HC lays down death for minor’s rape, murder

The court termed Alhalt’s crime as the rarest of rare crimes, a ‘‘pre-planned’’ murder ‘‘that did not permit the court to impose a lesser punishment’’. The division bench of Justice S.S. Parkar and Justice Ranjana Desai at the Bombay High Court confirmed the death sentence.

Under the pretext of providing fuel wood, Alhalt tricked the Std V student from the neighbourhood to follow him to a nearby hill, where he brutally raped before strangulating her, sources said. The victim was also assaulted by a pen knife.

The victim’s body was found abandoned the next day on the hill, when her mother Sushma Patil (name changed) filed a police complaint on January 15, 2002. The accused was found a day later by the police hiding in the nearby sugarcane fields.

As many as 17 witnesses were examined by the court to prove the charges against the accused.

The defence had argued for a lenient sentence in view of Alhalt’s family status and background. Alhalt is a father of three daughters, one as old as the victim. The court, however, rejected the appeal.