Lucknow: In yet another speedy trial and verdict in crime against girls and women in Uttar Pradesh, a POCSO Court in Jaunpur awarded the death sentence to an accused who had raped and brutally murdered an 11-year-old minor girl in August 2020.
The POCSO Court Judge Ravi Yadav also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on the accused. The verdict came less than seven months after a speedy trial by holding a day-today hearing.
On August 6, 2020, Balmukund alias Govinda took an 11-year-girl and her sister out for buying them biscuits and toffees. While he asked the victim’s sister to go home, he took the girl to the cornfields and raped her. Fearing that the girl might tell her parents, the accused strangled her and poured acid on her face and body to destroy her identity.
When the girl did not return home, her parents launched a search. When her father could not find her, he lodged a complaint at the police station about her missing daughter. Two days later, villagers found the victim's acid burnt body from the cornfield. The victim’s post mortem report confirmed rape and death due to asphyxia.
On the statement of the victim’s younger sister, the police arrested Govinda from his hometown Chandauli. The shopkeeper and victim’s younger sister appeared as witnesses during the trial. They named the accused of taking the victim with him. The prosecution produced as many as 11 other witnesses during the trial in support of the rape and murder charge-sheet.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the POCSO Court observed that the crime committed by the accused comes under the category of the rarest of rare crime and the perpetrator should be awarded no less than a death sentence.
Family members of the victim said that justice was done to their daughter by the court awarding the death sentence to the accused. The defence counsel said that they will appeal in a higher court against the hanging.
