NAGPUR: A sessions court in Maharashtra’s Nagpur pronounced on Monday triple death sentences to a man convicted on three counts of abduction, rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in 2019.
Additional sessions judge S R Padwal’s verdict against Sanjay Puri under Sections 302 (murder) and 376AB (rape of a minor) of IPC and Section 6 of Pocso Act (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) is said to be the first instance of a court in Maharashtra giving three death sentences.
Double death sentences have previously been pronounced in at least four cases in the Vidarbha region alone.
“The death penalty will be executed, subject to confirmation by Bombay high court. All substantive sentences shall run concurrently,” said the Nagpur court order.
Special public prosecutor Prashant Sathianathan said the child’s mother reported her daughter missing on December 7, 2019. A case was registered at Kalmeshwar police station near Nagpur the same day.
On December 8, the girl’s body was found in a field. Medical examination revealed she was sexually assaulted before the perpetrator smashed her head with a boulder.
Investigators quickly identified the accused as Puri. It transpired that he lured the child into a field the day she went missing, gagged, raped and then murdered her.
Additional sessions judge Padwal also fined the convict Rs 15,000 and directed the officer-in-charge of Kalmeshwar police station to assist the victim’s parents in applying for compensation from the State Legal Aid Committee.
The most recent double death sentence was pronounced on May 22 by another court in Nagpur against a man convicted of raping and killing his 16-year-old daughter. The convict also received three concurrent life terms.
A sessions court in Yavatmal earlier pronounced double death sentences against a man convicted of raping and murdering a two-year-old girl on August 14, 2015. Another double death sentence came in the case involving the murder of two boys — one in 2016 and the other in 2018 — by the same man.
Additional sessions judge S R Padwal’s verdict against Sanjay Puri under Sections 302 (murder) and 376AB (rape of a minor) of IPC and Section 6 of Pocso Act (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) is said to be the first instance of a court in Maharashtra giving three death sentences.
Double death sentences have previously been pronounced in at least four cases in the Vidarbha region alone.
“The death penalty will be executed, subject to confirmation by Bombay high court. All substantive sentences shall run concurrently,” said the Nagpur court order.
Special public prosecutor Prashant Sathianathan said the child’s mother reported her daughter missing on December 7, 2019. A case was registered at Kalmeshwar police station near Nagpur the same day.
On December 8, the girl’s body was found in a field. Medical examination revealed she was sexually assaulted before the perpetrator smashed her head with a boulder.
Investigators quickly identified the accused as Puri. It transpired that he lured the child into a field the day she went missing, gagged, raped and then murdered her.
Additional sessions judge Padwal also fined the convict Rs 15,000 and directed the officer-in-charge of Kalmeshwar police station to assist the victim’s parents in applying for compensation from the State Legal Aid Committee.
The most recent double death sentence was pronounced on May 22 by another court in Nagpur against a man convicted of raping and killing his 16-year-old daughter. The convict also received three concurrent life terms.
A sessions court in Yavatmal earlier pronounced double death sentences against a man convicted of raping and murdering a two-year-old girl on August 14, 2015. Another double death sentence came in the case involving the murder of two boys — one in 2016 and the other in 2018 — by the same man.