The court accepted that his aim was to create terror in the neighbourhood. (Representative)
Mumbai:
Terming the act as “barbaric and inhuman”, a Mumbai court on Tuesday awarded death sentence to a transgender man for the rape and murder of a three-month-old baby girl.
Aditi Kadam, special judge for cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO), said that due to such crimes the fabric of the society is damaged beyond repair.
However, a co-accused was acquitted as the prosecution could not prove the case against him beyond reasonable doubt.
According to the prosecution, the 24-year-old accused abducted the girl, who lived in a nearby house, in July 2021 and murdered her after sexually assaulting her.
The prosecution said he committed the heinous act because the victim’s family could not give her the traditional “vadhaai” (gift) after the birth of a child.
The accused (name withheld to protect the identity of the victim) had asked for a saree, Rs 1,100 and a coconut.
The court held that his motive was to create terror in the neighborhood so that no one would dare to refuse giving him gifts.
It said the injuries found on the body of the “completely unprotected” victim reflected “extreme cruelty and depravity”.
“A girl’s safety is of paramount importance to the society…the accused had planned to commit the crime and executed it meticulously,” the judge said, adding that he buried the body in a marshy area to destroy evidence. Had given.
The court said, “The barbaric and inhuman manner of committing the crime has made it ‘the rarest of rare case’. This is a crime that will send shivers down the spine of every parent of a girl, especially in a poor area.”
It said the perversity of the crime was an aggravating circumstance, and there was no basis for showing leniency towards an accused “who has no remorse”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
