A local court in Hyderabad, India has awarded death penalty to a man convicted of rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in December 2017.
Pronouncing the judgment on Tuesday, February 9, Judge B Suresh Babu of the Metropolitan Sessions Court at LB Nagar sentenced the accused, Dinesh Kumar Dharne, 23, to capital punishment and a fine of Rs 1,000.
Kumar, a native of Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh, was prosecuted on charges of kidnap, rape and murder apart from section 5 r/w 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act–2012.
He had lured the girl with chocolates, took her to the bushes and raped her. Fearing that she would inform her parents about it, he bludgeoned her to death. He not only raped her ghastly by stretching her legs apart, but also smashed her head with a boulder, killing her on the spot.
On the day of the incident, when the girl was playing outside her hut, Dharne took her to a nearby grocery shop on the pretext of buying her chocolates.
When her parents could not find her, they questioned Dharne, who said he had dropped her back at the construction site and hadn’t seen her ever since
Her parents approached Narsingi police of Cyberabad. A case of missing girl was registered. Dharne emerged prime suspect after the girl’s mother told the police that the girl was last seen with him. In her complaint, she stated that Dharne had taken her daughter to a tea shop on the pretext of buying her chocolates, but she never returned.
The police reconstructed the crime scene and raided Dharne’s room, seizing incriminating evidence from his possession. He was then questioned, and confessed to committing the crime.
However, Kumar managed to secure bail and went missing thereafter, delaying the trial. Later, special teams formed to nab the accused tracked him down to Madhya Pradesh.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, Cyberabad police commissioner termed it a landmark judgement and said it was a result of a watertight case made against the accused.
Sajjanar said the police collected all available physical and scientific evidence to nail the accused in the case. Key witnesses were examined and a detailed charge sheet was filed in the court, adding that it was a heinous rape and murder case.
