INDIA: 65-YR-OLD GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR RAPE, MURDER OF MINOR

November 9, 2023:

The Special POCSO Court on November 7, 2023 awarded death sentence to a 65-year-old man accused of rape and murder in Uttar Pradesh.
Additional district and sessions judge Shyam Mohan Jaiswal, who holds the charge of POCSO Court, awarded capital punishment to one Kedar Nath Rathore, 65, for raping and thereafter gagging a 10-year old minor to death.
Passing the order, the court stated that it could not overlook the unbearable pain and trauma which the minor girl must have undergone at the time of the incident. The court would fail in discharging its duty if it did not award maximum punishment to the accused, observed the court.
The victim went missing from outside her house in Aliganj on March 16, 2016 and the next day, her father lodged an FIR at the Aliganj police station.
Cops recovered the victim’s body dumped near Shyam Satsang Bhawan, Mahanagar, later in the day. Kedar Nath Rathore, the victim’s neighbour, was arrested from the state capital when he was trying to flee.
“Kedar Nath Rathore was arrested on the basis of neighbours’ statements who had spotted the girl with him for the last time in the evening on March 16, 2016,” said Mukesh Tripathi, district government counsel (criminal).
Tripathi and advocate Shashi Pathak had represented the state government in court during the trial of the case.
“The post mortem examination report of the girl pointed out seven injuries on her body. The accused had gagged the girl to death after raping her when she was writhing in pain,” added Tripathi.
“The forensic science laboratory report had revealed the presence of male sperm on the clothes of the victim. Involvement of the accused was established beyond any doubt in the court,” asserted Tripathi.
The court also got the accused examined by a psychiatrist. “The psychiatrist ruled out any psychological disorder in the accused. This also helped the court in awarding death penalty to the accused,” said Tripathi.