POCSO Case: 41-yr-old gets death for rape, murder of minor girl in Surat

The convict, who lived in the same society, lured her with chocolates, took her to a nearby house where he raped and later killed her by strangulating her using his pants. The accused hid the body in a gunny bag below the bed in his room before fleeing from the spot.

The incident came to light when the victim’s father returned home around noon and found his youngest among three daughters missing. Soon, a search operation was launched for the missing child.

The victim’s father lodged a complaint with the Chowk Bazaar police the same day. With no CCTV footage showing the girl leaving the residential society, the cops carried out door-to-door search operations in the society. After finding one of the houses locked, the police broke open the house and found the body hidden in a gunny bag below the bed. The parents of the victim later identified the dead body.

The police added IPC Sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 376(2) (J)(L) 376(2) (J)(L) (being in a position of control or dominance over a woman, commits rape on such woman, while committing rape causes grievous bodily harm or maims or disfigures or endangers the life of a woman), 367(3) (rape on a woman under sixteen years of age), 376(A) (punishment for causing death or resulting in persistent vegetative state of victim), 376(A, B) (punishment for rape of a woman under twelve years of age), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) and different sections of the POCSO Act to the complaint. The suspect was arrested from an industrial area at Pandol in Katargam on December 12.

On January 2 this year, the cops filed the charge sheet comprising 86 documentary evidence and 77 witnesses of which 46 were examined, including one prime witness—a woman resident of the same society—who spotted the convict taking the victim girl to his house.

“We are satisfied with the court’s order and it will set an example in the society,” said District Government Pleader advocate Nayan Sukhadwala.
The victim’s mother expressed satisfaction in the court’s order. “On the day of the incident, the accused hid himself inside his house and in the afternoon. When I was crying outside my house, he came on a bike and inquired. When I told him my daughter had gone missing, he said to continue the search and that we would find her,” the victim’s mother told The Indian Express.