Prayagraj: A Pocso court in Prayagraj has awarded death sentence to a man for the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl in the city in 2020. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the convict Gagan Kumar.In his June 29 order, Pocso court judge VK Chaurasia observed, “The brutality against this innocent person is a threat to society. This case is extremely cruel, inhumane and shocking. The accused has zero chance of reform and deserves the death penalty.”The court also directed the District Legal Services Authority to provide compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the victim’s legal kin.According to the prosecution, the girl’s mother went to a relative’s house on June 12, 2020 and when she returned around 9pm, she found her daughter missing.The child’s grandmother told her that around 7.30pm, Gagan Kumar, a family acquaintance, had taken the girl with him on the pretext of buying her toffees. When the child did not return, family members launched a search and found her body near the Gagan’s house.An FIR was registered against Gagan at Handia police station on June 13, 2020. The postmortem confirmed that the child had been raped and strangled. Gagan was later arrested.After completing the investigation, police filed a chargesheet against Gagan. During the trial, the prosecution presented 13 witnesses, including the victim’s father, mother, grandmother, the doctor who performed the postmortem and the investigating officer.
