A court at Maihar in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh has sentenced a 34-year-old man to death for rape and murder of a five-year-old girl.
Additional Sessions Judge C D Sharma convicted Sachin Singhraha, the accused, under sections 376 (A) (inflicting injury during a rape which causes victim's death) and 302 (murder) of IPC and awarded him the capital punishment yesterday.
Public Prosecutor Sushil Tripathi told PTI that the judge held the crime to be "heinous" and falling under the "rarest of the rare" category.
According to Tripathi, the victim, resident of Itma village, missed her bus to the school on February 23 this year, so her uncle asked Sachin, who owned a van and who was known to the family, to take her to the school.
Sachin, according to the police, took the girl to an isolated spot and raped her. Then he took her to a well in Paraswada locality and first tried to strangulate her unsuccessfully, before throwing her into the water.
When the girl didn't return from school, her family approached the police who held Sachin. He confessed to raping and killing her.
Police recovered the girl's body from the well.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on the convict, of which Rs 25,000 will go the victim's parents. If Sachin doesn't pay the fine, the court has directed police to auction his van which has been seized.
