UP: Death sentence upheld in rape, murder of minor
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has upheld the death sentence awarded to a 25-year-old man convicted of the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl of Shravasti in 2012.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has upheld the death sentence awarded to a 25-year-old man convicted of the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl of Shravasti in 2012.
A division bench of justice Surendra Vikram Singh Rathor and justice Pratyush Kumar dismissed the appeal of the convict Chhotkau.
The sessions judge, Shravasti, had awarded the death sentence with a fine totalling Rs 1 lakh to the accused on March 29, 2014.
“In such cases, leniency by the court would send the wrong message to the society, such type of cases deserve exemplary punishment so that persons of deviant behaviour may choose not to do so. We are of the view that this case is the rarest of the rare... When by his deviant behaviour and abnormal sexual urge, he has forfeited his right to live in the society, we think death sentence is the only punishment which can be awarded to him,” the court observed. With these observations, the court upheld the sentence awarded by the trial judge.
The girl went missing on March 8, 2012 and her uncle reported the matter to the Ikauna police station. He told the police that a fellow villager Chhotkau had taken the girl with him that day on the pretext of giving her a glimpse of music and dance at a Holi carnival. The girl failed to return home. A search revealed that Chhotkau was also untraceable. The girl’s body was found in a sugarcane field. An FIR was registered under Sections 302 (murder) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code.