Prime accused Ram lured the 5-year-old victim, later killed her by smashing her head on the floor in 2015
A Special Court of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO)in Durg has awarded capital punishment to a 24-year-old youth convicted of killing a 5-year-old 'deaf and dumb' girl after raping her.
The convict after brutally raping and murdering the kid had stuffed her body in a sack and dumped it near a nullah at Khursipar, Bhilai. The convict was sentenced to gallows for both rape and murder under Sections 376 (A) and Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It is the 1st such sentence in the district and perhaps the state after a law entailing capital punishment to those convicted of raping a child below 12 years of age came into force.
Meanwhile, two other accomplices connected with the incident including the mother of the convict were also convicted for causing removing the evidence of offence.
The Fifth Upper Sessions Judge of POCSO Court Shubhra Pachouri while awarding the death penalty observed that the act committed by the convict came under the category of 'rarest of the rare' rape cases and termed it as the 'cruelest' while concluding that it will be injustice towards the 'daughters' if the convict is not given harshest punishment.
The Sessions Judge also quoted Delhi's 'Nirbhaya' judgment in her 140-page order and sentenced the convict under s6 different Sections of the IPC. Mentioning 'Nirbhaya' judgement, the Special Judge quoted that 'it becomes important to ensure gender justice not only remain on paper' and convicted the youth on the basis of 'circumstantial evidences'. After convicting him, the Special Court decided the quantum of the punishment at around 20:00 hours on Friday.
The convicts have been identified as Ram Sona (24), his mother Kunti Sona (38) and his friend Amrit Singh (38), all residents of Shivaji Nagar, Khursipar, Bhilai. Additional Public Prosecutor, Kamal Kishore Verma informed that the incident had occurred on February 25, 2015 after the 5-year-old girl had gone missing while playing near her house.
The prime accused Ram had lured the minor and raped the deaf and dumb girl, later killing her by smashing her head on the floor. The victim had sustained multiple injuries and she died on the spot while the accused had stuffed the victim's body in a sack and dumped it near the nullah at Khursipar.
The police later recovered the body and the accused trio were arrested during the course of investigation, he added.
Meanwhile, the Special POCSO Court while categorising the case to be 'rarest of the rare' concluded that the physical and mental pain underwent by the victim's family is unimaginable. The Special Judge Shubhra Pachouri also directed the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to provide compensation to the victim's family.
Meanwhile, the convict Ram was awarded death penalty under sections 376 (A) and 302; five years Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) under sections 363, 365 and 201 each and seven years RI under section 366 of the IPC. Meanwhile, his mother Kunti was awarded 5 years imprisonment under Sections 201, 216 and 212 of the IPC each and 6 years imprisonment under section 202 of the IPC. Similarly, Amrit Singh was awarded 5 years imprisonment under section 201-24 and 6 months under section 202 of the IPC each. The court has also imposed penalty on the convicts.
Source: thehitavada.com, August 26, 2018
HC commutes death penalty to imprisonment for rest of life, says it's not rarest of rare case
High court, Jabalpur bench commuted death penalty awarded to a 21-year-old rape and murder convict to imprisonment for the rest of his life while observing it was not a rarest of rare cases. The judgment reserved on August 17, 2019 was delivered on Friday.
The convict Sunil Adivasi happens to be one of the 14 convicts in 13 cases of sexual offences who were awarded death penalty in Madhya Pradesh after promulgation of the ordinance by the central government on April 22 for awarding death penalty to convicts involved in rape with minor girls below 12 years of age. One of the convicts was involved in a sodomy and murder of a minor boy, as per department of prosecution in Madhya Pradesh.
Sunil Adivasi, a resident of Sagar district, 186 kilometers north east of Bhopal, accused under sections 376A, 302, 342, 201/511 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 for allegedly raping and killing a 9-year-old girl on April 13, 2017 was convicted by the court of additional sessions judge, Khurai in Sagar district on June 19 this year and awarded death penalty. He filed an appeal in the high court challenging the conviction.
The bench of justice JK Maheshwari and justice Akhil Kumar Srivastava of high court, Jabalpur said in its judgment that 'on perusal of the medical of the girl, the sign of commission of rape is present but brutality to the body is not present, though she was found dead'.
The bench, however, said the finding of conviction for the offences committed didn't warrant interference but on the question if the case was rarest of rare the bench cited the Supreme Court guidelines drawn on 'aggravating circumstances' and 'mitigating circumstances' in the case of Bachan Singh. The bench also cited the Apex Court observation in certain other cases to arrive at its judgment.
Commuting the death penalty to sentence 'for the remainder life subject to any remission by the government for good reasons' the bench said the record indicated that the convict was left by his mother and was residing alone. He was living separately from his family at the age of 21 years and the probability of his being rehabilitated and reformed couldn't be ruled out. "Nothing is available on record to suggest that he cannot be a useful member of the society. In our considered opinion, it is not a case in which the alternative punishment would not be sufficient to the facts of the case", observed the bench.
Source: Hindustan Times, August 26, 2018
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
