Death penalty demanded for rape and murder accused

The prosecution in a rape-murder case Monday told a court here that three men convicted for their barbaric act against a 19-year-old woman in 2012 should be awarded the death penalty.

Additional Public Prosecutor Satwinder Kaur told Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat that the case falls under the category of "rarest of rare".

The court Feb 13 convicted Ravi Kumar, Rahul and Vinod on various charges dealing with kidnapping, rape and murder.

The prosecution told the court that the victim was only 19 years old and was brutally murdered after being raped.

Arguing on the quantum of sentence, the prosecution said the convicts committed a barbaric act as they first kidnapped the woman, raped her and then killed her. They then dumped her body in a field in Rodhai village in Haryana's Rewari district.

However, the defence counsel requested the court to show leniency towards the convicts.

The court fixed Feb 19 for the order on sentence.

Earlier, the father of the woman told reporters that the convicts must be given the death penalty.

The prosecution said the woman was kidnapped by the three men in a car from near her house in Qutub Vihar area on the night of Feb 9, 2012 while she was returning from office.

The prosecution said there were multiple injuries on the woman's head and other parts of her body.

Police said the three men had assaulted the woman with a car jack and an earthen pot.

Ravi committed the crime with the help of the other two convicts as he was outraged over the woman's refusal to his friendship proposal, police said.