INDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE, MURDER OF FOUR-YEAR-OLD

February 14, 2022:

A POCSO court in Rajasthan has awarded death sentence to a man for raping and killing a four-year-old girl, police officials said in Jaipur on 11 February 2022.
Special Court of POCSO cases, Judge Sandeep Kumar Sharma sentenced accused Suresh Kumar Balai (25) to death under Section 5 and 6 of the POCSO Act and Section 302 of the IPC besides slapping a fine of Rs 3 lakhs.
In its judgment, the court said: “The accused committed such a brutal crime against a four-and-a-half year old girl that even an animal would never.”
The accused raped the minor and then drowned her in the pond to escape conviction.
During the trial in POCSO Court, along with the statements of 41 witnesses, 141 documents were presented as evidence. The Special Public Prosecutor said that the court sentenced to death Suresh for raping and killing the child.
The judge further said: “The accused had tormented an innocent girl who had no understanding other than just eating, drinking and sleeping, and killed her by throwing her into water to destroy the evidence. In such a situation, the accused not only raped the child with the extent of unimaginable lust and cruelty, but also committed unimaginable unnatural acts. Therefore, he should be hanged to death.”
Special Public Prosecutors Mahavir Singh Kishnawat and Vijaya Pareek said that child’s mother had filed a report on 12 August 2021 that her four-year-old daughter had gone to the neighbourhood on the previous day but did not return.
The girl’s body was later found floating in a pond. The post-mortem report showed rape and unnatural acts before the murder.
The police formed different teams for investigation and on 13 August, arrested the accused and presented a challan against him in the court in the next eight days.