INDIA: 3 CONVICTS GET DEATH PENALTY FOR GANG RAPE, MURDER OF MINOR GIRL IN 4-DAY TRIAL

March 17, 2020:

A Jharkhand court on 3 March 2020 sentenced three persons to death for the gangrape and murder of a six-year-old girl, in a judgement that came in less than a month after the crime was committed. Special Judge Taufiqul Hasan passed the sentence after conducting the trial in four working days.
The three - Mithu Rai, an uncle of the victim, Pankaj Mohali and Ashok Rai - were convicted of the crime under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and various sections of the Indian Penal Code. The judge awarded capital punishment to the three and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on each of them. According to The Indian Express, the victim's uncle and two others had taken the girl away on the pretext of treating her with 'golgappas' (snacks) on 5 February. However, the girl did not return home till late night and the uncle lied to her parents, saying that they had left the girl on the doorstep.
Two days later, villagers found the child's body buried in Mahubana under Ramgarh police station of Dumka. All three men, who had fled the village, were arrested on 12 February. According to the court records, the three had taken the girl to a lonely place, "gagged her mouth", "smothered her face", and "committed gang sexual penetrative assault."