KOLKATA: A 19-year-old man was sentenced to death on Friday in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas for raping and murdering a nine-year-old village girl on October 4, public prosecutor Bibhas Chatterjee said.
Mostakin Sardar, the suspect, was arrested at 3am on October 5, hours after the crime took place in the Kultali area. Coming merely two months after the August 9 rape and murder of a 31-year-old junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital which rocked the nation, the Kultali incident triggered unrest.
Villagers attacked the local police on October 5 and set a portion of the local Mahishmari police outpost on fire alleging inaction. They also stopped Pratima Mondal, the local Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member, from meeting the girl’s family.
“Sardar was convicted under sections 103 and 66 of BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) and Section 6 of the Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act. The trial went on for 61 days.
Chatterjee said the Pocso court judge Subrata Chattopadhyay observed while announcing the sentence that the convict showed no sign of remorse or any inclination to undergo reform.
The court also announced a compensation of ₹10 lakh for the victim’s family.
“We are happy with the death sentence. But the convict may move a higher court and get bail. Such instances are common,” the victim’s father told the media.
Chatterjee said: “The brutality found in this crime is shocking. The girl was walking down to her home after attending a private tutorial class. Sardar offered to give her a lift on his bicycle and took her to a desolate place. One of the witnesses in the case said in court that he saw Sardar picking up the child. When this man questioned Sardar, he said he would drop her home as instructed by her family.”
“As many as 38 injuries were found on the victim’s body. Her skull was smashed. Circumstantial and scientific evidence and DNA tests confirmed that Sardar committed the crime. Initially, he claimed that he was in love with the girl but when the court declared him guilty he alleged that he had been framed,” Chatterjee added.
The state government formed an eight-member special investigation team (SIT) headed by Baruipur police superintendent Palash Chandra Dhali to probe the crime in view of the mass protests.
Friday’s sentencing was announced around the same time when junior doctors protesting the RG Kar Hospital crime took out a procession in Kolkata demanding punishment for the suspects. A civic police volunteer, a former principal of the medical college and a Kolkata police inspector are in judicial custody in that case.
“The verdict in the Baruipur case has given us hope,” the father of the RG Kar Hospital victim told the media.
