Gujarat : POCSO court awards death sentence to man for rape, murder of toddler in 28 days

A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences court in Surat awarded death sentence to a 35-year-old convict in the rape and murder case of a two-year-old girl, terming the judgement as to the "rarest of rare" case.

Surat (Gujarat):A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Surat awarded death sentence to a 35-year-old convict in the rape and murder case of a two-year-old girl, terming the judgement as the "rarest of rare" cases.

As per the prosecution, the victim, who was the daughter of a migrant worker couple, was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and then murdered by the accused Guddu Yadav, on the night of November 4. The body was found on November 7 near a factory, located about one km away from her house. The police, after scanning the footage of several CCTVs and collecting information from various sources and arrested the accused on November 8 and 28 days later the court pronounced the judgement in the case.

In order to ensure a speedy trial, the police had submitted the charge sheet seven days after the arrest of the accused on November 8. The court had recorded statements of 42 witnesses in the case.

READ:Man held for raping three minor girls in Vadodara

Yadav was awarded the punishment under IPC Sections 376-AB (rape on a woman under 12 years of age) and 302 (murder) by special POCSO court judge PS Kala. The court also directed the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the family of the victim.

This is not the first incident in which the judgement was pronounced in record time. Earlier also, a POCSO court in Gandhinagar sentenced to life imprisonment to a man convicted in the rape, five days after the case was presented in the court.

Lauding the court for its judgement in record time, the parents of the victim said that they thought that they won't get justice as they are poor.

"We have got justice in this case. We are poor, we thought we would not get justice."

(agency inputs)