A court in Assam on Monday sentenced a man to death for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in 2018, reported PTI.
Bishwanath Additional Sessions Court Judge Dipankar Bora handed the man, identified as Mangal Pyke, the death sentence after convicting him under Sections 376 (A) and 302 of the Indian Penal Code, pertaining to sexual offences leading to death, and murder.
He was also sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, or POCSO Act, and was charged a fine of Rs 7,000. Besides, the court gave him seven years in jail under IPC Section 363 for kidnapping, and charged another fine of Rs 3,000.
“This court held the accused guilty of the charges of rape and murder under several sections of IPC and POCSO and sentenced Pyke to death,” Public Prosecutor Jahnabi Kalita told journalists after the verdict, reported the Hindustan Times.
The incident took place in 2018, near the Dikorai tea garden under Sootea police station. Pyke was related to the girl and had visited her family in Biswanath for some work, according to NDTV. He lured the girl by offering her chocolates and took her to a nearby jungle where he raped the child before killing her. He then tried to hide the body there.
Pyke is a resident of Lokhra Burhagaon area of Sonitpur district adjoining Biswanath. Public Prosecutor Kalita told PTI that altogether 16 witnesses, including doctors and police, were examined during the trial.
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