Maharashtra man sentenced to death for raping, murdering 6-year-old girl

The police said that after investigation, the main defendant and his mother both confessed to the crime.

Pune:

The Sessions Court in Pune on Friday sentenced a 24-year-old man to death for raping and murdering a 6-year-old girl in Maval Taluka in Pune district.

In August 2022, the accused, a resident of Kamshet in Mawar taluka, abducted the six-year-old girl while she was playing in the yard of her house, raped her and slit her throat. The girl’s body was found in the defendant’s backyard the next day.

The defendant’s mother was also sentenced to seven years in prison for concealing evidence and failing to report the crime to the police.

During the course of the investigation, both defendants admitted their guilt, but after the police submitted charge sheets to the court, they both pleaded not guilty.

Senior counsel for the prosecution Rajesh Kavidya said that during the trial, the prosecution submitted that “on the basis of all the evidence on record, the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused abducted the deceased girl while she was playing in the yard. She, took her to her home, severely sexually assaulted the deceased and brutally cut her throat.

“The defendant then tried to hide the body by burying it in a pit under a tree behind his house. His mother hid the deceased’s clothes and belongings on the deceased to protect her son from punishment, so the two defendants All should be convicted,” Mr Kavidya added.

He further stated, “The defendant is a sex maniac, obsessed with uncontrolled, unrelenting sexual thoughts and addicted to viewing child pornography.”

Mr Kavediya thanked the court for the speedy conduct of the trial.

The case came to trial around October 2022, and in just 8 months after the charge sheet was filed, 29 witnesses were examined.

Reacting to the court order, defense counsel Yashpal Purohit said: “I welcome the judgment of the honorable court but the defense will approach higher courts for legal remedies available to the accused. “

“The present crime appears to be one of the most heinous, cruel and barbaric acts committed by a sexually obsessed and callous man,” the Sessions Court said in its order.

The trial was conducted by Pune Additional Sessions Judge BP Kshirsagar.

The incident occurred in August 2022. The case was registered at Kamshet police station under Pune rural police station and the conviction took about one year and seven months.

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