INDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN PUNE FOR SEXUALLY ASSAULTING A MINOR GIRL AND KILLING HER

April 9, 2024:

Additional Sessions Judge and District Judge BP Kshirsagar sentenced Tejas Mahipati Dalvi to death for the rape, kidnapping, and murder of a minor under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on March 22, 2024.
The court described the crime as heinous, brutal, and barbaric.
His accomplice Sujata Mahipati Dalvi, who is also her mother, faced charges for assisting in disposing of the body and tampering with evidence.
As per information, Tejas abducted the six-year 10 months old girl from Kothurne in Maval, Pune district, on August 2, 2022, triggering charges under Sections 363, 302, 376(2), 376A, 376AB, and 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with Sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act.
Tejas received the death penalty for kidnapping, murder, and other offences under the IPC and POCSO Act.
He abducted the girl while she was playing, sexually assaulted her at his residence, and fatally slashed her throat. He attempted to conceal the body in a pit near a tree behind his house, with Sujata aiding in covering it with clothes and other materials.
Sujata faced prosecution and conviction under Sections 21 of the POCSO Act, Section 201 of IPC, and Section 202 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) for her complicity in the crime.
Moreover, Additional Public Prosecutor Rajesh Kavediya presented the case, underscoring Tejas’s appalling actions and the involvement of both accused in this tragic ordeal. Throughout the trial, he presented 29 witnesses which played an important role in establishing the crime committed by the mother-son duo.