Ghaziabad court awards death penalty to 30-yr for rape and murder of 2 year old girl

Ghaziabad, Jan 21: A Ghaziabad court has awarded a death sentence to a 30-year-old man for raping and murdering the two-and-a-half-year-old daughter of his colleague in October 2020.

The man was held guilty on January 18 after a 29-day trial. The judge of the fast-track court termed the case as "rarest of rare" and awarded the maximum sentence. The prosecution produced 10 witnesses.

The prosecution said the autopsy report confirmed that child had suffered eight external injuries, including a broken hyoid bone (U-shaped bone in the front of the neck) pointing to death due to asphyxia from strangling.

According to the prosecution, the crime took place on the night of October 19, 2020, when the convict , who is a colleague of the girl's father, went to their house and took away the child from her mother on pretext of taking her to a nearby shop.

When he did not return till late night, the family went in search of him and also approached the police. The mutilated body of the girl was found the next afternoon, near a drain in an industrial area. The man was nabbed thereafter.

Girl's father and the man were friends for about 10-12 years and they worked at the same factory. At times, the man would stay with the family and the girl used to call him "Chacha (uncle)", the police said.

The police filed the charge sheet in the case on December 16, 2020, and charges were framed on December 24, 2020, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and also under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302, 201, 376(a), 376(ab).

"The man brutally raped the minor girl and murdered her, before hiding her body near a drain at the scene of crime. The prosecution produced 10 witnesses while no one, including the family of the convict, turned up in his defence. We produced witnesses, including the girl's mother who confirmed that the man took away her daughter despite her trying to stop him. One witness also saw the man carrying the girl on his shoulders near the scene of crime," said Utkarsh Vats, special public prosecutor (Pocso).