Man gets life sentence for sodomising, murdering minor in 2018

New Delhi [India], March 12 : Delhi's Rohini court has awarded two life sentences to a man for sodomising a 10-year-old boy and thereafter murdering him by strangulation in the year 2018.
He had committed the crime after kidnapping the minor and had dumped the body in a drain in the Bhalaswa dairy area after committing the offence in order to destroy the evidence. An FIR was registered at Shalimar Bagh Police Station in the year 2018.
Special Judge (POCSO) Sushil Bala Dagar awarded two life sentences to the Convict for the offences of murder and sodomising a minor aged below 10 years. He has been sentenced to a term of 7 years for kidnapping the minor and 3 years for the offence of destroying the evidence. All sentences shall run concurrently.
The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on the convict.
The court held that there is no doubt that the crime committed by the convict is twofold in nature. He kidnapped the innocent child, brutally sodomized and murdered the child by strangulating him.
"The postmortem report indicated the death was due to asphyxia consequent to antemortem manual strangulation," the court said in the order of March 11.
However, the court said that this case doesn't fall in the category of rarest of rare cases.
The convict was convicted for the offence under sections 363, 377, 302, 201 IPC and Section 6 POCSO Act. The present offence was committed on 24.03.2018.
The court has awarded a compensation of Rs.10.50 lakh to the parents of the deceased.
While granting compensation the court noted that the family of the deceased who belongs to the economically marginalized section of society were subjected to immense pain and suffering not only due to the loss of their child but also the continuous social stigma attached. The family had to bear expenses for the last rites of their deceased son.
Further, due to the sudden loss even the other family members were subjected to immense mental and emotional trauma, the court added.
While seeking maximum punishment for the offence of murder the Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Yogita Kaushik submitted that the convict should be granted maximum punishment so that like-minded persons in the society are deterred from committing such heinous and despicable offences.
It was further argued that the offence committed by the convict in this matter is highly derogatory in nature.
On the other hand, it was submitted by Amicus curae for Convict that he is of 42 years of age, he is from poor background. He used to work as a helper and was earning Rs. 400-500 daily. He has four brothers.
He urged the court to take a lenient view while sentencing him.