Death Penalty In Record 29 Days! POCSO Court Sentences 30-Yr-Old For Rape, Murder Of Ghaziabad Toddler

The court pronounced the quantum of punishment on Wednesday after holding the accused guilty earlier on January 18 after a trial of about a month.

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Terming the case as the “rarest of rare, a Special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO)  court on Wednesday awarded death penalty to a 30-year-old man for brutally raping and murdering a two-and-half-year-old daughter of his colleague on October 19, 2020.

Special POCSO Court Judge Mahendra Srivastava awarded the death penalty to Chandan, who was a close friend of the girl's father, PTI reports. The court pronounced the quantum of punishment on Wednesday after holding the accused guilty earlier on January 18 after a trial of about a month.

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Holding the accused guilty, Special Judge (POCSO Act) Mahendra Srivastava awarded him death penalty under the provisions of the Act. Pandey was also awarded life imprisonment section for murder and seven years imprisonment for the destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

“The man brutally raped the minor girl and also murdered her and hid the body near to a drain at the scene of the crime. The prosecution produced 10 witnesses while no one, including the family of the convict, turned up for his defence,” said Special Public Prosecutor Utkarsh Vats.

“We also produced witnesses including the girl’s mother who confirmed that the man took away her daughter. One witness also saw Pandey taking away the girl on his shoulders near the scene of the crime,” he added. Vats also described the verdict within 29 days as a landmark.

This followed as the Ghaziabad Police also procured a CCTV footage from a mobile shop confirming that Pandey was seen taking away the girl with him.

The crime took place on October 19 last year when Pandey, a colleague of the deceased girl’s father, visited her house and forcibly took away the child from her mother on the pretext of taking her to a nearby shop.

The family began a search for the girl after Pandey did not return till late night and later approached the police.

Pandey was nabbed after the girl’s mutilated body was found from near a drain near the transport department office in an industrial area on the afternoon of October 20, 2020.

The charge sheet in the case was filed on December 16, 2020. The girl’s father and the accused were known to each other for the last 12 years and worked at the same factory in Ghaziabad.