UP native convicted of minor’s rape, murder

The Fast-Track Special Court here has convicted Heera Lal Guddu, a native of Uttar Pradesh, in a one-year-old case of rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Hallomajra. The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on Tuesday.

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The police had registered the case after a child’s body with multiple stab wounds was found near a dumping site in Ram Darbar on the intervening night of January 21 and 22 last year. She went missing on January 19.

The body was found in a semi-naked state and hidden under a pile of garbage near her house in Hallomajra. The autopsy confirmed rape.

The CCTV footage of the area helped the police nab the accused. He was caught on camera carrying a handbag.

During a door-to-door search, the child’s slippers were found in a house in the neighbourhood. The occupant of the house, Heera Lal, was missing. He was arrested from Bihar seven days after the rape and murder. A painter by profession, the accused has two wives and five children, the eldest being a 13-year-old daughter.

The police claimed that the accused had shifted to Chandigarh from his native place of Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, and was living in the victim’s neighbourhood at Hallomajra.

After completing the investigation, the police filed a chargesheet against the accused in the court. Finding a prima facie case, the court framed charges against the accused under Sections 201, 302, 363, 366, 376, 376(3), 376 AB, 511 of the IPC, and Section 6 the POCSO Act, to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed a trial.

The Public Prosecutor argued that the prosecution had proved the case beyond a shadow of doubt. However, the counsel of the accused said he was falsely implicated in the case. After hearing the arguments, the court convicted Heera Lal.