Cuttack: A special POCSO court in Cuttack today awarded capital punishment to the accused in the sensational rape and murder case of a six-year-old girl in Salepur area last year.
Sheikh Mustaq, who was accused of raping and murdering the minor girl from Jagannathpur village under Salepur police limits was charged under Sections 376 (A), 376 (B), 302, 363 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 6 of the POCSO Act.
The death sentence is 4th such ruling in last two months under the POCSO Amendment Act in Odisha which has the provision of capital punishment in rape cases involving minor girls under 12 years of age.
It may be noted that the accused Mustaq had reportedly lured the girl with a chocolate and raped her inside a school in the village before hitting her head with a stone on April 21, 2018. The girl succumbed to her injuries
Coincidentally the crime happened on the very same day as Odisha government implemented the amended POCSO Act. Police arrested the accused soon after the incident and also filed charge sheet against him in a record 19 days.
Meanwhile, reacting to the verdict, social activist Namrata Chaddha said, “This is the 4th time in Odisha that an accused has been sentenced with death penalty for rape by the special POCSO court. I thank the judiciary and the police for acting so fast.”
“Such criminals do not deserve to live and death sentence is the only penalty for them,” adds Chaddha.
Sources said, family members of the of the deceased girl have welcomed the judgment and termed it as true justice.
This was the fourth death penalty awarded in less than two months in Odisha by POCSO courts.
On September 10, a court in Jagatsinghpur sentenced a man to death for raping and killing a nine-year-old girl in a village last year, while on August 28, a 25-year-old man was awarded death penalty in Mayurbhanj district for raping and killing an eight-year-old tribal girl last year.
On July 26, a POCSO court in Angul sentenced a 20-year-old man to death for raping and killing a girl.