POCSO court sentences transgender person to death for rape, murder of girl child
The court held that the barbaric and inhuman way the offence was committed has made it a ‘rarest of rare case’
A POCSO court in Mumbai on Tuesday sentenced a 24-year-old transgender person to death for kidnapping, raping, and murdering a three-month-old girl in Cuffe Parade in 2021, holding that the “barbaric and inhuman” way the offence was committed has made it a ‘rarest of rare case’.
Special judge, Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court, Aditee Kadam, said, “Life sentence is a rule, and death sentence is an exception, only to be awarded in the rarest of rare cases. This crime smacks of the degradation of a girl child, depravity, and perversity. The barbaric and inhuman manner in which the offence was committed has made it the ‘rarest of rare case’.” “The accused had planned in advance to commit the crime and executed it in a meticulous manner,” the judge said, calling it a “cold-blooded murder.”
According to the investigation, the accused approached the family of the girl for a gift after the girl child was born, as is customary of some members of the transgender community. However, the family declined to give anything. The accused then developed a grudge against the family. Later, the accused kidnapped the infant when her family members were asleep, raped her, and drowned her in the nearby creek. He was abetted by a co-accused. The judge acquitted the co-accused of all charges.
The child’s body was found the next morning in a marshy area near a creek near their house based on information supplied by the accused. A witness stated in his testimony that he found the child when he went fishing at Sasoon Dock at around 2am.
“The accused had come to the house around 8pm asking for bakshish (gift) in the form of a 9-yard saree, coconut, and ₹1,100 on the birth of a girl child. We did not give him anything. While leaving, he threatened us that he would do something in five-six days which will make him famous,” the girl’s mother, who lodged the complaint, said in her testimony.
The advocate representing the accused, pointed out that his client had no criminal antecedents and that he is an uneducated transgender person who lived off donations made by people. The advocate pleaded before the court to consider the personality of the accused as revealed by his age, character, other circumstances, and his amenability to reform as an important determinant of the sentence.
However, the judge said, “It is a crime that would send a chill down the spine of every parent of a girl child, especially in a poor vicinity. The perversity in the mind of the accused is apparent when a budding infant/girl child is exterminated in a very ghastly and shocking manner, the social fabric gets permanently damaged beyond repair.”
“The trial progressed quickly, and we are satisfied with the decision. Justice has been delivered,” said the infant’s father.