Man raped 5-yr-old last month. Judge fast-tracks trial, orders death penalty

A Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Jhunjhunu district completed trial in a rape case involving a five-year-old in 16 days and awarded death penalty to the 20-year-old accused on Wednesday. He was held guilty a day ago. The entire process was completed in 26 days, police said.

The POCSO court judge Sukesh Kumar Jain, while pronouncing the sentence on Wednesday, said, “During hearing, the court didn’t see repentance even once in your eyes. If there had been repentance in your eyes, your punishment could have been different.”

According to police, on February 19 around 6.25pm, a minor was allegedly abducted from her house when she was playing with her cousins.

The accused identified as Sunil Kumar (20) had abducted the minor and then raped her at an isolated place, said police.

The court lauded the police for speedy investigation.

“The investigation done by the police is an example of a very good investigation in which every evidence, including scientific, electronic and physical, was corroborated very well which could be considered as an ideal investigation. The senior officials of the police department should use this investigation as a case study,” the judgment read.

Hawa Singh Ghumariya, inspector general of police (IGP), Jaipur range, said statements of more than 40 witnesses were collected and around 250 documents were submitted as evidence.

“In order to present the chargesheet at the earliest, the police worked in this case for 12 to 13 hours daily and presented it within 10 days. The death punishment was also pronounced within 16 days. This is the first case of rape with a minor where death sentence was announced so quickly,” he said.

Ghumariya added that the verdict will send out a strong message in the society.