Mandsaur: Two get death for child rape

MANDSAUR: Less than two months after two young men in their twenties lured away an eightyear-old girl from outside her school and gang-raped her, a special court on Tuesday sentenced them to death.

Irfan alias Bhaiyu (20) and Asif (24) were declared guilty and awarded the death penalty by special judge, Nisha Gupta, under the newly introduced IPC Section 376DB (punishment for rape of a girl under 12 years of age by one or more persons), Rajendra Kumar, director, public prosecution, said.

This is the 12th case since March in Madhya Pradesh in which death has been given to those involved in raping minor girls. There had been a huge clamour in Madhya Pradesh to sentence the accused to death after the June 26 incident that came months after the horrific gangrape and murder in Kathua of a Bakerwal girl.

Mandsaur SP, Manoj Singh, said the girl went missing from outside her school on June 26 afternoon and was found the next day in a serious condition with injury marks on her body, throat and private parts. With the help of CCTV footage and other evidence, the police arrested Irfan within 48 hours and Asif the following day.

Irfan told interrogators that he had lured the girl by promising her sweets and taken her to a secluded place behind the Mandsaur bus stand, where he and Asif raped her. They then drank beer and slit her throat with a cutter, leaving her for dead. But she somehow survived.

The SP said a charge sheet had been filed on July 12 and the trial started on July 30. By August 8, the prosecution had presented 37 witnesses. On Tuesday, the court pronounced them guilty and sentenced them to death.

Deputy director, prosecution, Bapu Singh Thakur, said strong witnesses and scientific evidence had facilitated the judgment. He said the girl had categorically told the court she had been raped by the duo and identified them. DNA tests had confirmed that the blood on Irfan’s clothes and innerwear was the girl’s and hair samples found at the crime scene were theirs.