Kushinagar (UP), March 25 A court in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in 2020, officials said on Wednesday.
The court of Special Judge (POCSO Act) and Additional Sessions Judge Dinesh Kumar also imposed a fine of ₹4.25 lakh on the convict on Tuesday, directing that half of the amount be paid to the victim's guardian, Special Public Prosecutor Phoolbadan.
On November 27, 2020, the victim's father had lodged a complaint at the Turkpatti police station that his daughter had not returned home after collecting grain from the fields. During a search, her blood-stained body was discovered near her bicycle along with a stray slipper.
A subsequent post-mortem examination confirmed that the minor had been raped before being murdered.
The investigation took a breakthrough when a sniffer dog led police from the crime scene directly to the house of the accused, Maigar Maddheshiya, in the neighboring village.
Although the accused was not at home at the time, police later apprehended him from the house of a relative.
Upon interrogation, Maddheshiya confessed to the crime. Based on his disclosure, police recovered the weapon used in the murder and blood-stained clothes hidden in a field near the scene of the incident.
After examining the evidence and hearing arguments from both sides, the judge found Maddheshiya guilty of raping and murdering the minor girl.
The court observed that Maddheshiya had ended the life of a young girl who had just begun her journey.
Such an "inhumane act" is unimaginable in a civilized society and deserves the harshest punishment, it said.
The court, however, acquitted a second accused, Ramchandra Gupta, citing a lack of evidence.