A court in Assam awarded the death sentence to 19-year-old Zakir Hussain on Friday for the gang rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Assam’s Nagaon district in March, PTI reported.
Earlier this week, a juvenile court sentenced two minor accused in the case and sent them to a correctional home for three years, said Nagaon Additional Superintendent of Police Ripul Das. Five of the accused were acquitted for the lack of evidence.
District and Sessions Judge Rita Kar sentenced Hussain to death, citing provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for the murder, and to life imprisonment for the rape.
On March 23, Hussain and the two minors attacked the girl, a student of Class 5, when she was alone at home in Lalung village. After raping her, they set her on fire and fled the scene. The girl was taken to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital, where she died the following day. Her death sparked protests and villagers attacked Hussain’s home on March 25.
The accused were arrested and charged with rape, house trespass, tampering with evidence, and murder under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. On April 28, the police filed a chargesheet against eight persons.
Some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders had used the crime to whip up hostility towards “immigrants from Bangladesh”. Mrinal Kumar Saikia, the BJP MLA from Khumtai, alleged the crime was “planned and executed by Bangladeshi immigrant Muslims in the state who have become a major threat to the society here”. He termed it a “Talibani act” and said these “must be reciprocated the same way”.
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