INDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH BY GUJARAT COURT FOR RAPE, MURDER OF MINOR GIRL

August 2, 2022:

A 31-year-old man was sentenced to death by a special court in Gujarat on 26 July 2022 for kidnapping, raping and murdering a minor girl, a verdict coming less than four months after the offence was committed.
Special POCSO (Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences) court judge DP Gohil handed down capital punishment to the accused, Ramprasad Maheshsingh, a native of Anuppur district in adjoining Madhya Pradesh, for kidnapping and sexually assaulting the three years and nine months old girl before strangling her to death.
The offence was committed on April 14, and a charge-sheet filed by the police on April 27.
Charges were framed against the accused on April 30 and a day-to-day hearing was conducted, special public prosecutor Nayan Sukhadwala said.
The court also ordered payment of Rs 3 lakh to the family of the victim under a compensation scheme.
The verdict would have been delivered much earlier had the previous judge presiding over the case not been transferred, Sukhadwala said.