Gujarat court hands death sentence to man for rape, murder of 10-year-old girl in Bharuch

The trial in the case — which had brought back haunting memories of the 2012 Delhi gangrape, which also occurred on December 16 that year — was completed in a record 72 days after the charges were framed, Special Public Prosecutor and Bharuch District Government Pleader PB Pandya told The Indian Express.

In the submissions before the court, Pandya emphasised on the “barbaric” manner in which the victim had been injured in the sexual assault, with the accused inflicting bite and knife injuries on her face as well as internal injuries by inserting a sharp object in her private parts that turned out to be fatal despite the victim undergoing multiple surgeries at Bharuch civil hospital as well as SSG hospital in Vadodara.

‘Victim’s dying declaration proved to be a clincher’

Pandya said, “We brought before the court medical, circumstantial and technical evidence, CCTV cameras as well as the forensic evidence gathered from the spot of the crime during the reconstruction. The weapons used to injure the victim have also been recovered. A total of 38 prosecution witnesses deposed in the case and not a single one turned hostile… Moreover, a dying declaration had been recorded of the minor while she was wheeled into the Bharuch civil hospital, and it proved to be a clincher in the case.”

In the submissions considered by the court, the prosecution also stressed that “even a double death sentence awarded to the accused would not suffice”. The prosecution also submitted that despite being a married man and a father of a daughter, the accused had committed “brutal, inhuman assault” on the victim, hitting her on the face with a stone, dragging her and throwing her over the wall of the migrant settlement in the district, where they were neighbours, and then raping and assaulting her. “The accused continuously tortured the victim, causing innumerable injuries… A common person even fears the needle of an injection during hospitalisation but the accused, in order to satisfy his devilish lust, inserted sharp iron rod in the private parts of the victim, in the most dastardly and terrorising manner…. the medical evidence on record described the injuries caused by the weapon in the victim’s private parts, and rupture in the anal canal as well as intestines,” the prosecution submitted.

The court considered the prosecution’s submission seeking capital punishment under the rarest of rare category, for the “collective social conscience” and “justice”. The accused was convicted under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Sections [137(1)(b)] (kidnapping a child from lawful guardianship), 65(2) (punishment for rape on a woman under 12 years of age), 109(1) (attempt to murder), 103(1) (murder), 332(a) (house tresspass in order to commit a crime punishable with death or life imprisonment), 118(1) (Voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), as well as relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Pandya said, “The court categorically mentioned that the accused must be hanged unto death… It is a record verdict in the case that will send out a strong message in the society and deter criminals.”

The brutal assault and rape had turned the SSG hospital, where the victim was battling for life, into a political pitch with Opposition parties, including Jharkhand’s Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj from the Congress, Dipika Pandey Singh, visiting her and attacking Gujarat’s ruling BJP for the “lawlessness” and the “rise of crimes against women” in the state.

Seven-term Bharuch BJP MP Mansukh Vasava as well as Jhagadia MLA Ritesh Vasava had also visited the hospital with the former handing out a “personal cheque” of Rs 1 lakh to the family. The Dediapada MLA, Chaitar Vasava of the Aam Aadmi Party, as well as Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee President Shaktisinh Gohil had also visited the victim and lashed out at the state government.

Following the death of the victim, the state government had made provisions for the family to take back the body to their native village in Jharkhand, with a Gujarat police team escorting the ambulance.