Panipat: Two get death sentence for rape, murder of 12-year-old

Panipat, February 18

The court of Additional Sessions Judge Sumit Garg, Fast Track Court (POCSO), on Friday awarded death penalty to two convicts for raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl.

It is the first capital punishment recorded in the Panipat court’s history.

Rajesh Chaudhary, District Attorney, said that ASJ Sumit Garg awarded the capital punishment (to hang from the neck till death) to convicts Pradeep and Sagar alias Kallu, residents of Urlana Kalan village of Madlauda area of Panipat, under Section 302 (murder), 376-A (rape with a minor of 12 years or less than 12 years) of the IPC and Section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each upon the convicts.

The crime was reported on January 14, 2018 in Urlana village of Madlauda area of Panipat. The body of a girl was found lying in a naked condition near a small pond on the side of Valmiki chaupal in the village.

Later, the victim was identified. The 12-year-old victim was living with her maternal relatives since her birth. She was studying in Class VI at that time.

Her maternal uncle said that she had gone to throw garbage in the evening on January 13 but did not return home. They searched for her but in vain. Following his complaint, a case was registered in Madlauda police station.

The police, on the same day, nabbed two accused Pardeep and Sagar alias Kallu of the same vicinity and investigated the matter. Later, the police recovered the ash of the burnt clothes of the victim and a ‘tasla’ (container in which she had gone to throw garbage) from the house of accused Pardeep.

It was revealed during the investigation that both accused had abducted the girl and took her to the room of Pradeep. There, they raped her and murdered her by strangulating her with her shawl. Not only this, the accused also raped the body of the victim and threw the body in a naked condition near the pond. The court held that the case was the ‘rarest of rare’ and awarded capital sentence to the convicts.

Man gets 20-yr RI for crime

Gurugram: A Faridabad court today sentenced a man hailing from Uttar Pradesh to rigorous imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of Rs 5,000 for raping a minor aged four and a half years.

Under the victim compensation scheme 2020, the District Legal Services Authority, Faridabad, also ordered him to pay Rs 7 lakh compensation to the victim.

The convict, identified as Nasir Khan, alias Samir Khan, a native of Manpur village in Agra district of UP, was booked under Sections 342, 450 of the IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act in 2018 at the women’s police station, NIT, Faridabad.

According to the police, it was on February 18, 2018, when a rickshaw-puller had filed a complaint against an unknown accused regarding the matter. — OC