19-year-old sentenced to death for raping infant in Alwar

A 19-year old youth was today given death penalty by a court for raping a seven-month-old child in Alwar district of Rajasthan in May, the first such sentencing in the state after a law entailing capital punishment to those convicted of raping a child below 12 years of age came into force, according to police.

A special court hearing cases of SC/ST Act and POCSO Act in Alwar sentenced to death Pintu, who was found guilty of raping the infant in Laxmangarh area in Alwar on May 9.

Special Judge Jagendra Agrawal, who had conducted daily hearings in the case, found the youth guilty on July 18 and announced the quantum of punishment today.

Pintu was convicted under IPC sections 363, 366 A (related to abduction of minor) and 376 AB (for rape on woman under twelve years of age) and 5(M)/6 of POCSO Act. The death penalty was awarded under the IPC section 376 AB, SHO of the Laxmangarh police station Prahlad Sahay said.

It is the first such case in Rajasthan after the criminal law (amendment) ordinance, which introduced IPC Section 376 AB came into force on April 21 this year under which the provision of death penalty for raping a girl below 12 years of age was introduced, according to DGP OP Galhotra.

"The local police had filed a challan against Pintu under sections of POCSO Act and IPC on June 6," IG Jaipur Hemant Priyadarshi said.

The ordinance was brought in after the outcry over the gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir.