A court in Jharkhand on Tuesday awarded the death penalty to three men convicted for their involvement in the rape and murder of a 6-year-old minor girl. Amid uproar among people for delaying the hanging of Nirbhaya's culprits; this verdict came 28 days after the incident.
The capital punishment was given to the three accused by Dumka district and sessions judge Taufik ul Hassan. The accused have been identified as Mithu Rai, an uncle of the victim, Pankaj Mohali and Ashok Rai.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on each of them after convicting them of the crime under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and various sections of the Indian Penal Code. All three men are aged between 19 and 26 years.
The incident
On February 7, 2020, the body of the victim was recovered by the police from a place under Ramgarh police station of Dumka district. When interrogated, all three men accepted their crime and confessed that they had raped the child on February 5, strangled her, and buried the body.
In the case, 16 witnesses were presented by the Police before the court. In just four days of hearing in the case; the trial was concluded. On Monday, the hearing lasted till 9 pm in the night.
The child had gone to her grandmother's place on February 5 to visit a fair organised on the occasion of a Puja. Mithu Rai, the child's uncle, took her to the fair the same evening and while coming back from there the three raped her. Later, she was strangled and her body was dumped in some bushes. The body was recovered on February 7.
Mithu Rai was also a part of the village team that went out looking for the missing girl. However, he later fleed to Mumbai assuming that he might be arrested in the case once the body is recovered.
On February 8, he was arrested from Mumbai and brought back to Dumka. Pankaj and Ashok Rai were arrested based on Mithu Rai's statement. The family of the child demanded the death penalty. Before awarding the death penalty the judge reportedly sought the views of the family regarding the sentencing.
