A special court in Pune on Thursday convicted a 65-year-old man on charges of raping and murdering a three-year-old girl in May. The sentence will be pronounced on June 29.
The accused was physically produced before the court around 11.10 am. Special judge Salunkhe told him that he was held guilty for the rape, murder of a minor girl.
The victim’s father told Special Judge S R Salunkhe to set an example by sentencing the accused to death. Citing 12 different Supreme Court judgments, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Ajay Misar also sought capital punishment for the accused, saying he had committed a heinous crime.
CCTV clips showing the accused with the victim, DNA reports, and the statement of the witness who last saw the victim with the man provided crucial evidence against the accused.
During investigation, police procured evidence from the analysis of six CCTV videos to establish the sequence of events before and during the commission of offence.
Police said a CCTV footage revealed the accused bought gathi shev at a local shop. Police also procured CCTV clips showing the accused walking with the girl, holding her hand, towards the crime scene at around 3.12 pm on May 1. Later, in footage taken by the same CCTV at the same spot, the accused is seen returning alone around 3.51 pm.
“The CCTV videos confirm that the accused raped, murdered the victim girl brutally during this period of 39 minutes. Postmortem report revealed 18 injuries on the victim’s body, showing the grievous nature of the crime,” Misar told the court on Thursday.
During the trial, the accused had said that girl was with him in the cowshed and he did give her some “gathi shev”, but later, when he picked her up, he slipped and collapsed on the ground. The accused said the girl sustained injuries to her head and started crying, so he kept her on a cot in the shed, and assuming that people would blame him for assaulting her, he left the spot.
Prosecution claimed that the accused narrated a false story as the medical reports and DNA Profiling confirm his involvement in the crime. Prosecution said the accused’s semen was found on the girl’s body and a DNA test has confirmed it.
The court on Wednesday convicted the accused, holding him guilty of all charges levelled against him.
Accused beyond reformation: SPP
Citing the accused’s history — of him having been arrested for allegedly attempting to rape a woman in 1998 and molest his niece in 2015 — Misar argued he was beyond reformation and deserved the death penalty. He added that the accused had committed cold-blooded murder.
Legal aid defence lawyer Himmatrao Suryawanshi, said the accused was acquitted in previous cases, cited his age, and added that there was reasonable doubt about the brutality of the crime he allegedly committed. He submitted that the present offence cannot be termed as a rarest of rare case and life imprisonment was the appropriate punishment.
Advocate Vipul Dushing, representing the victim’s family, argued that the inhuman act committed by the accused takes away his right to stay in society. Dushing also pointed out that the accused had a wife, seven daughters and a son, but none of them came to his aid because of his criminal history. He also submitted that the accused had been expelled from his village.
Investigating officer, Police Inspector Vijaymala Pawar, and Superintendent of Police, Pune Rural, Sandeep Singh Gill, were present in court. A huge police force was deployed at the court premises during the verdict to prevent any law and order situation.
Speaking to media persons, Gill said, “The incident had sparked massive unrest among the people. Protestors had even blocked the Mumbai – Bengaluru highway… Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and the police had assured the protestors that proper investigation will be conducted and death punishment would be sought for the accused… There were no eyewitnesses to the crime. It was a challenge to collect strong circumstantial evidence to prove the offence. A special investigation team (SIT) comprising 15 police personnel worked rigorously to gather evidence and file the chargesheet within 15 days.”
Misar told media persons, “It was a rare thing that 55 witnesses were examined in the court in 16 days during the trial. Also, it was for the first time that a virtual panchanama was established as evidence before the court.”
Police said after his arrest, the accused was taken to a police station, where he pointed out locations virtually to investigators and seizures were made. This was recorded as a virtual panchanama, police said.
The incident occurred on May 1 when the girl was at her grandmother’s house in a village in Pune district. According to police, the accused lured her from a spot near a temple in the village and took her to a cowshed, saying he would give her a snack and show her a calf.
According to the prosecution, he allegedly raped the girl, gagged her with a cloth, and then killed her by assaulting her with his hands. The prosecution also claimed that after killing her, the accused sexually assaulted her body. He allegedly tried to destroy the evidence by dumping the body in the cowshed.
When the girl failed to return home, her family and villagers started searching for her. Her body was found in the cowshed, and the accused was caught. Subsequently, he was arrested.
Special public prosecutor Ajay Misar speaking to media persons after the verdict in Pune minor girl's rape, murder case at the Shivajinagar Court. (Express Photo by Pavan Khengre) 
Share
