INDIA: UP MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR THE RAPE AND MURDER OF HIS 5-MONTH-OLD NIECE

October 4, 2021:

A man in Lucknow, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on 29 September 2021 was sentenced to death by the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court for the rape and murder of his five-month-and-thirteen-days-old niece.
While pronouncing the verdict Judge Arvind Mishra said that the convict will be hanged till death after the confirmation of the death penalty from the High Court.
According to the Press Trust of India (PTI) report, the judge has also imposed a fine of Rs. 70, 000 on the convict, who has been identified as Prem Chandra alias Pappu Dixit, which will be given to the father of the deceased minor.
During the court proceedings, Judge Mishra refused to decrease his sentence or not grant any other punishment less than death. While calling the matter “rarest of the rare”, warranting nothing less than capital punishment.
The case was filed by the father of the deceased with Madion Police on 17 February 2020. In the report he said that the daughter and his wife had gone to a celebration nearby on 16 February, where the accused had taken the deceased for playing and when neither returned, an alarm by the family was raised.
Later, the deceased was found lying on a bush. She had serious injuries on her body and was taken to a hospital but died.