Chennai: Two years after the gruesome murder of a minor girl following rape, the Mahila court in Chengalpattu awarded the death sentence to a 24-year-old youth on Friday. "It is death by hanging," sessions judge P. Velmurugan said.
According to the prosecution, a 43-year-old widow, a native of Tirunelveli district, resided in a village near Thiruporur with her son and two daughters aged 19 and 14 years.
The woman worked in a house-keeping concern. The 14-year-old daughter studied in Class 9 of a government school in a village near Mahabalipuram.
When the minor girl was alone at home on the evening of July 23, L. Ashok Kumar (now 24) entered the house and raped her after gagging her mouth with a piece of cloth.
After the rape, the girl raised an alarm but the youth grabbed a knife in the house and slit her throat. When the family members arrived, they found the body in a pool of blood. Her clothes were in a state of disarray. The body was sent to Chengalpat government hospital for post mortem.
Thiruporur police registered a case under sections 376, 302 of IPC and the Pocso Act and launched a hunt for the accused. Ashok Kumar was arrested with the help of sniffer dogs.
On completion of trial, the Mahila court judge, Justice Velmurugan, said the prosecution proved the case beyond reasonable doubt. The judge awarded death sentence to Ashok Kumar on charges of murdering the minor girl. He also awarded a life sentence on him on the charge of raping the minor girl and slapped a fine of Rs 21,000 on him.
Family members of the girl, who were present in court, refused to speak to journalists after the verdict.
Justice Velmurugan had in February last year convicted 23-year-old techie S. Dhasvanth to death for the rape and murder of seven-year-old girl. Dhasvanth had burnt the child's body after he committed the crime on February 6, 2017.
