Prayagraj: A special Pocso court in Prayagraj on Monday awarded death sentence to a man for allegedly raping and killing an eight-year-old girl in 2024. Pocso court judge Vinod Kumar Chaurasia termed the incident as the cruellest one and put it under the category of rarest of rare cases. It also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the accused. “The brutality inflicted on the innocent is a threat to society. The case is extremely cruel, inhumane and shocking. The accused has zero chance of reform. Therefore, the culprit deserves the death penalty,” Chaurasia said. The court delivered its verdict within 18 months of the incident. The crime took place in Prayagraj’s Soraon on Oct 3, 2024, when 26-year-old Mukesh Patel kidnapped the girl, raped and murdered her. Twelve days later, police arrested him in an encounter.Public prosecutor, Vinay Kumar Tripathi, said the girl was returning home from a Durga Puja pandal when the accused kidnapped her. On Oct 4, her body was found in a paddy field. The body bore severe injuries. Based on the complaint of the girl’s mother, a criminal case was registered. The postmortem confirmed rape. Investigation revealed that the accused, Mukesh, was seen taking the girl away on his bicycle on the day of the incident.The public prosecutor said the police claimed that the accused first raped the girl and then to conceal his crime, brutally murdered her. Police filed the charge sheet on Dec 10, 2024, and the court framed charges on Dec 21. The accused was convicted on March 26. Tripathi said this was the 10th death sentence handed down in the Prayagraj district and sessions court in 49 years.
