Haryana court sentences two men to death for gang rape and murder of disabled minor girl

A special fast track court in Palwal recently awarded death sentence to two men for gang rape and murder of a nine-year-old deaf girl [State v Ajay]..The accused were found guilty of offences under Section 6 of the POCSO Act (Punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) and Sections 364 (kidnapping to murder), 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.Additional Sessions Judge Prashant Rana noted that the crime was extremely brutal and barbaric, and that the victim was repeatedly raped after her hands were tied and the convicts had also burnt her eyes with beedis.Hence, the case fell within the category of 'rarest of rare' warranting capital punishment for the accused, the Court said."In view of the brutal nature of the crime, the present case belongs to the category of, rarest of rare. Death sentence is the only befitting punishment for the convicts," the Court said..The convicts aged about 22 and 27 years were neighbors of the victim. One of the convicts had given her ₹20 to buy guavas While on her way, she was captured by them and taken inside a dense field, where she was gang-raped and killed.She succumbed to death on the spot after being strangulated by the neck and smothered.When the body was discovered the next day, it had maggots crawling all over the face..The Court observed that the convicts had taken all the care to commit the barbaric acts of gang rape and murder of the child in extreme secrecy and in a preplanned and cold-blooded manner.The Court also considered the fact that the victim in the case suffered multiple injuries including a neck fracture and complete damage of genitals.Additionally, her family was Below Poverty Line (BPL), her father was a laborer having 86 per cent disability owing to post-polio paralysis, her mother also suffered from speech and hearing disability and locomotive disability of one leg along with intellectual disabilities. Her younger siblings aged 11 and 6 years also suffered from speech and hearing impairment..The judge went on to record that any punishment less than the death sentence would be unjustified in the circumstances of the case and there was no reason to believe that the convicts would be reformed and would not be a menace to society."They do not deserve any mercy. The Courts of Law hereby warn potential offenders, who may plan to perpetrate such like offences in the future, that in case they commit such an offence with children of the society, they would be signing their own death warrants and the court would simply execute those warrants.".The Court also noted that there were innumerable instances of silent cries by the victim when the crime was committed against her and several protests by Deaf & Dumb Welfare Association of Palwal and other concerned NGOs ensued. "Human ears may have not listened to these silent cries, but the cosmic intelligence always listens to these cries, and does complete justice, when the time arrives for it. The time has come that the convicts are given "Just Desert" for their actions," the order said.Hence, it proceeded to sentence the two to death..The Court also awarded a compensation of ₹30 lakh to the legal heirs of the victim.The death sentence will be subject to confirmation by the Punjab and Haryana High Court..Special Public Prosecutor Harkesh Kumar assisted by advocate SC Chauhan appeared for the prosecution and complainant.The convicts were represented by advocates Ram Rattan Malik and NS Parmar..[Read Order]