INDIA: ASSAM MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE AND MURDER OF A FIVE-YEAR-OLD GIRL

December 28, 2020:

A court in Assam on 21 December 2020 sentenced a man to death for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl. The incident reportedly took place in the Dekorai tea garden area under Sootea police station in Bishwanath district in 2018.
Bishwanath Additional Sessions Court Judge Dipankar Bora pronounced the death sentence after convicting Mangal Paik, the culprit, under Sections 376 (A), 363, 201, 302 of the Indian Penal Code, pertaining to sexual offences leading to death and murder.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, or POCSO Act, and was also charged a fine of Rs 7,000. Furthermore, the Bishwanath court gave Paik seven years in jail under IPC Section 363 for kidnapping. The court also charged him another fine of Rs 3,000.
“The accused person, Mangal Paik is a resident of Lokhra Burhagaon area of Sonitpur. He was a relative of the victim and had lured her to a place by promising her biscuits only to brutally rape and kill her. The victim’s body was kept hidden by the accused,” Public Prosecutor Jahnabi Kalita said.