Mumbai, Jun 5 A special court in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district has sentenced a 19-year-old man to death for raping a 13-year-old girl and murdering her as well as her three minor siblings, observing the crime was "premeditated and exceptionally cruel".
In his order of Thursday, Special POCSO Court (Bhusawal) Judge S R Yadav said the case fell in the "rarest of rare" category and had shocked the judicial and societal conscience. The act of 19-year-old Sitaram Barela was "unpardonable and it warrants the death penalty", the court asserted.
"The accused has wiped out four minor children in a premeditated and cold-blooded, exceptionally cruel and diabolic manner. One of them raped by him," the special judge said.
Noting that sexual offences against minors are increasing day by day rapidly, the court highlighted that minors are being killed for "sexual lust of the youthful generation" and, hence, the judicial fraternity owes a duty to punish such people in a harsh voice.
"Having regard to the nature and circumstances of the crime, I am of the considered opinion that an alternative of life imprisonment is unquestionably foreclosed and the only punishment that the accused deserves is the death penalty," Judge Yadav ruled.
Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said there were no eyewitnesses and the case was based on circumstantial evidence.
The prosecution, however, was successful in establishing an unbroken chain of circumstantial events, Nikam said.
The incident took place on October 15, 2020, at a farmhouse in Raver in Jalgaon district.
The four children, comprising two girls and two boys in the 8-13 age group, were alone at home after their parents travelled to Madhya Pradesh to attend the last rites of a kin.
As per the prosecution, Barela, who stayed overnight at the house, raped the 13-year-old girl. When he met with resistance, Barela used an axe to brutally murder her and her three siblings, inflicting severe wounds to their necks and heads, the prosecution said.
The incident came to light the following morning after the farm owner went to the victims' house and found them lying in a pool of blood.
The prosecution, represented by Nikam, examined 28 witnesses, including the farm owner and victims' father.
The other key evidence that led to the conviction was that the accused's blood sample matched with the DNA obtained during the 13-year-old victim's medical examination.
There were also extra-judicial confessions as shortly after committing the crimes, Barela called his father and uncle, confessing to the rape and the quadruple murder, the prosecution said.
The court found Barela guilty of offence under sections 302 (murder) and 376(3) (rape of a woman under 16 years of age) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as relevant provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Pressing for capital punishment, Nikam submitted that it was the highest degree of brutality as the accused inflicted multiple blows with an axe to the head and neck of victims. There were six to seven injuries marks on the neck and head of all the victims, the SPP told court.
Nikam said the accused showed no repentance after the killing, instead boasting to his father and uncle that he had committed the murders.
Any leniency to the accused for his barbaric and dastardly act will have devastating effects on society, Nikam told court.
Considering the conduct of the accused, there is every possibility that he would create a continuing threat to society, the court said, adding he would make life miserable of the witnesses who had deposed against him.
The court asserted that it cannot put their (witnesses) life in peril by showing unnecessary sympathy to the accused.
"We again reiterate in this case that undue sympathy to impose inadequate sentences would do more harm to the justice system to undermine the public confidence in the efficacy of law," the judge remarked.
