Allahabad HC upholds death sentence of man convicted for rape, murder of minor girl

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The Allahabad High Court on Friday upheld the death penalty awarded to a 31-year-old man convicted of raping and murdering a minor girl.

Considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances of the case, imposition of the extreme penalty of death sentence on Putai is fully justified, the court said.

The court also upheld the life imprisonment awarded to co-accused Dileep, who was convicted for the same offences.

The two had filed separate appeals challenging a 2014 sessions court order. The appeals were dismissed by the Lucknow bench of Justice R R Awasthi and Justice Mahendra Dayal.

"The manner in which the crime has been committed reflects the mental condition of the appellants..In order to satisfy their lust, (they) committed rape on a minor girl and thereafter killed her and also tried to conceal the evidence by throwing her body in a nearby field...," the bench said.

"The injuries found on the body of the deceased girl also reflect the manner in which she was subjected to rape and one can imagine as to how much pain she must have suffered during the commission of crime by the appellants," it added.

Government advocate Vimal Srivastava contended that the additional sessions judge of Lucknow had rightly convicted and sentenced the appellants in 2014 on the basis of circumstantial evidence which clearly proved that the two, who were neighbours, had not only raped a minor child but also strangled her after beating her black and blue.

He stressed that the appellants did not deserve any leniency.

According to the FIR lodged by the victim's father, the girl (12) went out on the evening of September 4, 2012, to relieve herself but did not return. Her father and others launched a search but in vain.

The girl's disrobed body was found in a field the next day, following which her father lodged an FIR against unknown persons. Blood stains were also found near the body.

Suspicious conduct of Putai and Dileep and evidence found during the investigation helped nail them.