INDIA: RAJASTHAN POSCO COURT AWARDS DEATH PENALTY TO RAPE, DOUBLE MURDER ACCUSED YOUTH

December 30, 2023:

A Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Rajasthan’s Pali district awarded the death penalty to a 22-year-old accused in a case involving rape and double murder, Hindustan Times reported on December 13, 2023.
Additionally, a fine of Rs.5 lakh rupees has been imposed on the accused.
“The accused committed an egregious crime, deserving the death penalty,” POCSO court judge Anwar Ahmed Chauhan stated during the verdict.
Public prosecutor Khimaram Patel stated that the accused, identified as Arjun Singh, was sentenced after pleading guilty. According to Patel, on May 1, 2023, the accused had raped a 10-year-old girl and subsequently murdered her. He also murdered her 13-year-old brother of the minor girl.
While giving the verdict, special judge Chauhan said that the accused had crossed the height of the crime.
“Killing 10 and 13-year-old minors and raping a 10-year-old-girl is a very serious crime,” he said, adding “...The lives of both the deceased had not even begun and the accused brutally murdered them. Such a criminal must get the death penalty.”
According to the public prosecutor, the dead bodies of the minor siblings were found in the forest. Both had gone to graze goats and did not return home till late evening.
A missing complaint was filed, following which the police and family members began searching for them and found their bodies near a village in Pali district, Patel said.