New Delhi: The Rohini court here on Thursday awarded rigorous imprisonment to a man for kidnapping, raping and murdering a six-year-old girl in 2015.
The court while pronouncing the judgement stated that the convict committed a "cold-blooded rape and murder". The act was gruesome and inhumane and as such, the convict did not deserve any leniency, the court said. The accused Ravinder was convicted on May 6. He was sentenced to a rigorous jail term by the court under Section 6 of the POCSO Act (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault), besides IPC sections, including 376 A (punishment for causing death or resulting in a persistent vegetative state of the victim) and 302 (murder).
"The offence was not in the rarest of the rare category. But the act of the convict was gruesome. Therefore he did not deserve any leniency from the court," Assistant Sessions Judge Sunil Kumar said while delivering the judgement.
The judge further said that the crime was akin to an "act of a predator". It shook the conscience of the society. "The child was not in a position to provoke the convict for sexual assault or killing her. The offence committed by the convict was a cold-blooded rape and murder," the judge said.
Going by the evidence, the judge said there were signs of struggle at the crime spot. "It suggested that the victim put up resistance against Ravinder. But the monster in the convict did not show leniency towards the innocent child".
"Hence it was clear in the present case, the victim was an innocent child of six years of age. She was helpless. She was not unaware of the intention and lust of the convict. The convict had subjected her to forceful penetrative sexual assault. Thereafter, he mercilessly strangulated her to death," ASJ Kumar said.
"Therefore, the convict did not deserve any leniency. He should be given maximum punishment. A message should go in the society that there was no sympathy for the criminals in our judicial system," the judge added.
Ravinder was awarded rigorous life imprisonment, which meant "imprisonment for the remainder of the convict's natural life". The court also sentenced him under IPC sections 302, 363 (punishment for kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her marriage, etc.) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and said all sentences will run concurrently. A total fine of Rs 50,000 was also imposed on the convict.
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The court did not agree to the public prosecutor's submission demanding the death penalty for the convict. The prosecution had proved the case against Ravinder beyond a reasonable doubt, there were some "lingering or residual doubts" in the case, the observed.
"I have no hesitation to say that the present case does not fall in the rarest of the rare case to award the death sentence to the convict," the judge said and directed that a compensation of Rs 15 lakh be provided to the parents of the victim.
