UP constable sentenced to life in jail for rape, murder of minor girl

A special CBI court has sentenced an Uttar Pradesh Police constable to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of a teenage girl inside a police station in 2011.

New Delhi/Lucknow:A special CBI court in Lucknow has sentenced then Uttar Pradesh police constable Ateeq Ahmed to life imprisonment for rape and murder of a teenage girl inside Nighasan police station in Lakhimpur Kheri district in 2011, officials said Friday.

The court has also sentenced then Deputy SP Inayat Ullah Khan to imprisonment for five years in the case, CBI Spokesperson R K Gaur said, adding the Special Judge also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Ahmed and Rs 50,000 on Khan.

"The CBI had registered a case on December 20, 2011, on the request of the Uttar Pradesh Government and taken over the investigation of FIR No. 706/2011, earlier registered at Police Station Nighasan in Lakhimpur Kheri (Uttar Pradesh) on the allegations of rape and murder of a victim inside the police station premises," he said.

According to the spokesperson, the charge sheet was filed against four accused but the court acquitted two.

In the judgment, the court found constable Ahmed guilty under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.

The then circle officer, Khan, was also found guilty Section 201. Atiq was posted as the gunner of circle officer Khan. Those who have been acquitted are constables Shiv Kumar and Uma Shanker.

The court had convicted the two accused on February 24 and had fixed Friday as the day for for pronouncing the quantum of sentence.

On June 10, 2011, the mother of a 14-year-old girl had lodged an FIR with the Nighasan police station saying that her daughter had taken a buffalo for grazing to the field and it went crossed the boundary of the police station into the premises. As the girl did not return for long, the complainant went inside and found the body of her daughter hanging from a dry tree. The mother had seen injuries on the body of the girl, and it appeared that she was raped and then was hanged make it look like suicide.

The investigation was initially conducted by the CB-CID which filed a chargesheet against Ateeq Ahmed for raping and murdering the girl while the accused Shiv Kumar and Uma Shankar were accused of destroying evidence.

Subsequently, the CBI took up the probe and after investigation it filed chargesheet against Ateeq for murder and removing evidence, the other three, including the then circle officer, for destroying evidence, public prosecutor Deep Narayan said.

PTI