INDIA: MAN AWARDED DOUBLE DEATH PENALTY FOR RAPE, MURDER OF 7-YEAR OLD DALIT GIRL IN TAMIL NADU

December 30, 2020:

A young man was on 29 December 2020 awarded double death sentence by a court in the district of Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu, for the rape and murder of a seven-year old Dalit girl last year.
Mahila Court judge R Sathya sentenced to death Samuel alias Raja under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and also under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for rape and murder. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a Dalit girl and seven years imprisonment for kidnapping a child and trying to destroy evidence.
The entire trial process was completed in six months, officials said. According to prosecution, the girl went missing from a village near Aranthangi in the district on June 30 last year. After a complaint from her parents, police found her dead and post-mortem revealed she had been raped and murdered. Police arrested Samuel and registered cases under the Protection of Civil Rights (PCR) Act POCSO Act and the IPC, charging him with rape and murder of the girl.