POCSO court awards death to man for harassing, murdering minor in 2021

The prosecutor said he underlined the bandh observed by residents of the victim’s village and rallies taken out in the area to suggest that the entire society felt violated by the girl’s murder and attempted murder of her younger brother who tried to protect her. “This is a landmark judgement also for the fact that all the 51 prosecution witnesses, including panch witness, that we examined, supported our case,” the prosecutor said after the court pronounced the quantum of the punishment.

The court had convicted the accused under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 449 (house trespass in order to commit offence punishable with death) and Section 12 of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act for sexually harassing the minor girl.

According to the prosecution’s case, the man, who was then 24 years old, had barged into the 16-year-old victim’s home on March 16, 2021 and asked her to agree to marry him. When the Class 11 student refused, the assailant pulled out a knife. The girl’s 14-year-old brother tried to save her but the assailant stabbed him and injured him. Later, he turned to the minor girl, stabbed her more than 30 times and killed on the spot. The victim’s parents were away working as labourers on an agricultural farm when the incident took place.

The prosecutor said that forensic analysis of stains on the knife recovered from the accused and on the clothes he was wearing at the time of the crime proved that they were of the victim’s blood. Furthermore, the girl’s brother identified the accused and the knife with which he and his sister were stabbed. A woman living near the victim’s residence also saw the man walking with the knife after the teenager boy rushed her home to escape a murderous assault on him. After stabbing the siblings, the man went to a nearby paan shop and when was asked about his blood-stained clothes, he told the people that he had killed the girl and showed them the blood-stained knife.

“So, the brother, who was eye-witness to the crime, the neighbour, who was an independent eyewitness and the man at the paan shop to whom the accused had made extra-judicial confession, testified in favour of our case, proving our case beyond reasonable doubt,” the prosecutor said, adding, “A knife-seller from Chotila also testified that the accused had purchased a knife from his shop a few days prior to the murder, thus proving it was premeditated murder.”

According to the prosecution, the accused was a distant uncle of the girl on the maternal side and a resident of the same village. The accused and the victim’s parents also used to work together as agricultural labourers. He had been sexually harassing the girl for nearly 45 days prior to the crime. When the girl complained to her father about the harassment, the father asked the man to not visit their home any more.

“My daughter got justice today. Her soul will rest in peace now,” said the girl’s mother after the verdict. Her father said he was satisfied with the verdict and thanked the court. “I also thank the residents of my village for supporting us,” the father said.

The murder had led to a public outcry and a number of politicians, including Hardik Patel, who was then with the Congress, and Gujarat BJP president CR Paatil visiting the victim’s family to offer their support.