PATNA: A court in Madhubani district on Tuesday awarded death sentence to two men Sushil Kumar Rai and Om Prakash Jha in a gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old dalit girl.Syed Mohammad Fazlul Bari, judicial magistrate, POCSO court, Madhubani ,delivered the verdict after hearing the case from both the prosecution and the defence. The court also slapped a fine of Rs.1.20 lakh each on the accused.The court, in its order, said that the amount realised from the two convicts as fine would be given to the victim’s family. In addition, the court directed the government to pay Rs.8 lakh as compensation to the rape victim’s family as compensation.The brutal rape and murder case occurred in a village in Madhubani district in 2023.The court observed that the incident comes under ‘rarest of the rare’ category and severe punishment awarded to accused will work as a deterrent to incidents of crime against women. The court further said that the capital punishment awarded to the convict is a significant step towards delivering justice to the victim’s family. According to the prosecution, the horrifying incident took place when the victim was playing outside her residence in June 2023. They took the girl to a make-shift house in Kosi Colony at Jay Nagar, raped her and later killed her by gaging with a towel. The body was dumped in the make-shift room made of asbestos.On the next day, police arrested Om Prakash Jha and recovered the body of the victim. They also recovered blood-stained clothes of the accused from the spot and sent to the forensic science laboratory for test. The accused were held guilty under sections 366 (A), 376(D), 302/34, 4/5 POCSO Act and 3/5 SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.Altogether 18 witnesses were examined by the court.
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