Man gets death sentence for killing boy after sexual assault

A special POCSO court here today awarded death sentence to a man for killing a four-year-old boy after sodomising him at a village in Jambusar taluka in the district two years back.

Special POCSO court judge in Bharuch, H A Dave, awarded the sentence to Shambhu Padhiyar after finding him guilty under the Indian Penal Code Section 302 (murder) and under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), which deals with 'aggravated penetrative sexual assault'.

The incident had taken place in Piludara village on April 16, 2016. The four-year-old victim, son of a labourer, had gone missing on that day and his naked body was later recovered from the bushes.

During the probe, local police had zeroed in on Padhiyar, a resident of the village, and subsequently arrested him on the charges of killing the boy after sodomising him.

During the hearing, public prosecutor R J Desai told the court that Padhiyar had abducted the boy from near his house by offering to buy chocolates for him.

Later, Padhiyar had dumped the boy's body in the bushes.

The POCSO court accepted the arguments of the prosecution and held Padhiyar guilty.