A POCSO court has handed down a life imprisonment verdict to a juvenile offender in connection to double murder and gang rape.
The court has further imposed a cumulative fine amounting to Rs 46,000 on the convicted individual.
Brijesh Kumar Pandey, the designated Special Public Prosecutor, stated after holding the juvenile guilty on August 22, the Special POCSO Court, presided over by Additional District Judge Rahul Singh, officially delivered the sentences on Friday.
The sentence was pronounced under various sections of law in which the juvenile was found culpable.
Pandey stated that the court, in accordance with the provisions of Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), meted out a life imprisonment sentence accompanied by a fine of Rs 15,000. Additionally, the court sentenced the offender to 5 years of imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 5,000 under section 452 of the IPC.
A five-year jail term with a fine of Rs 5,000 was imposed under section 363 of the IPC.
Furthermore, a 6-year imprisonment term and a fine of Rs 5,000 were assigned under section 201 of the IPC. Notably, a one-year imprisonment period was accompanied by a fine of Rs 1,000 under section 323 of the IPC.
The court imposed upon the juvenile offender a rigorous imprisonment term spanning 20 years, in addition to a fine of Rs 15,000, in line with section 5g/6 of the POCSO Act.
Pandey stated that in the double murder and gang-rape of two minor girls, took place on September 14, 2022, there were a total of 6 accused among whom 4 were adults and 2 were juveniles.
He stated that on the 14th of August, the 4-adult accused were subjected to sentencing. Zunaid and Sunil were sentenced to life imprisonment, while Karimuddin and Arif received a 6-year rigorous imprisonment term.
It is noteworthy that the juvenile age of 16 – 18, underwent trial within the specialized jurisdiction of the POCSO court. Consequently, a sentence was pronounced on Friday. Meanwhile, the trial for the 6th juvenile accused is currently underway at the juvenile justice board.
Tragically, two teenage girls in a village located within the jurisdiction of the Nighasan police station area were subjected to a horrific sequence of events on the 14th of September, 2022. They were abducted from their residence, subjected to a heinous gang-rape, and brutally strangled to death. Their lifeless bodies were subsequently found hanged from a tree within a sugarcane field.
In response to this heinous incident, authorities promptly constituted a Special Investigation Team tasked with unravelling the complexities of the case. This endeavour led six accused individuals involved in the gruesome act.
