Kaithal man convicted of rape, murder of 7-year-old girl gets death sentence
Kaithal court awarded death sentence to a 22-year-old man convicted in the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl last year. The convict, Pawan Kumar, alias Moni, is a pickle vendor. As per information, this is the first capital punishment announced by the district court terming it as the rarest of the rare cases.
A court in Kaithal on Saturday awarded death sentence to a 22-year-old man convicted in the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl last year. The convict, Pawan Kumar, alias Moni, is a pickle vendor.
As per information, this is the first capital punishment announced by the district court terming it as the rarest of the rare cases. Even the special POCSO court of additional district and sessions judge Gagandeep Kaur also announced to provide a financial assistance of ₹30 lakh to the family members of the deceased by the District Legal Services Authority.
“A person who commits such a disgusting and heinous act has no right to live, the way the culprit has brutalised the girl is not tolerable,” the court observed in its judgment.
The judgment further read, “A cheat and a sinner cannot be judged by his outer appearance, as Adolf Hitler, who ordered the execution of eight million people and was responsible for the deaths of many more millions, hated cruelty to animals and was a vegetarian,” reads the court order with a special observation, “If a person like the accused is allowed to survive in this world , he will definitely pollute the mind of other co-prisoners.” “Taking into consideration the brutality of attack, the barbaric manner in which the victim was raped, murdered, burnt, the mental agony undergone by the parents, the court finds that except death sentence no other sentence will be adequate,” the court observed.
Deputy district attorney Jai Bhagwan Goyal said that the court has awarded capital punishment under Section 6 of the POCSO Act and Section 302 of the IPC, seven years imprisonment under Section 365 of the IPC, 10 years punishment under Section 366 of the IPC and seven years imprisonment under Section 201 of the IPC. The court also imposed a total fine of ₹13,000 on the convict.
Goyal said the case was reported on October 8 last year and the FIR was registered under Sections 302, 365, 366, 376 A-B and 201 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and later Sections 376 (3) of the IPC was also added in the FIR.
As per the police investigation report, the convict, Pawan Kumar of a village under Kalayat police station, had taken the Class 2 student with him when she was playing on the street. By the evening, the family members of the victim started a search operation but could not get any clue about her and later they filed a police complaint about her kidnapping.
The next morning, her half-burnt body was recovered from the nearby forest and the police started the investigation. With the help of CCTV cameras, the police succeeded in tracing the accused and he was arrested. The police team led by DSP Sajjan Kumar solved the case within 25 hours. During the interrogation, Pawan confessed that he had raped the girl and later strangled her. Even he burnt her body by pouring petrol to destroy the evidence.
The scientific and medical evidence and DNA match helped in proving the charges and the court has recorded the statements of 34 witnesses in the case.