Death penalty for painter who raped, murdered 8-year-old girl in Chandigarh

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

Calling it a crime most brutal, bestial and barbaric that clearly falls in the 'rarest of the rare' category, a special POCSO court in Chandigarh on Tuesday awarded death penalty to a 40-year-old man who raped and murdered an eight-year-old girl in the city in January 2024.
The court of additional sessions judge Yashika ruled that the convict, Hira Lal, be hanged by neck, till he is dead, only after confirmation by the Punjab and Haryana high court.
'The entire record of the case, along with the duly sealed electronic evidence, be submitted before the high court for confirmation of death sentence under Section 366 (1) CrPC,' said the court.
It also ordered the State Legal Services Authority to disburse a compensation of ₹17 lakh to the dependants of the victim.
'The victim was the daughter of very poor parents, who are labourers and residing in a single room in a rented accommodation. The mother had sent the victim to the shop for purchase of a thread/lace, from where she was kidnapped, raped and murdered by the convict. The victim and convict were neighbours, and the victim must have looked upon him as an uncle or a respected elder. The victim was only eight years old and the convict was 40 years old at the time of commission of crime. The convict cunningly lured her and took her to his room and then committed the barbaric crime,' said the court, chastising the convict.
'The rape of a minor girl child is nothing but a monstrous burial of her dignity in the darkness. It is a crime against the holy body of a girl child and the soul of the society,' it remarked.
On Monday, the court had convicted Hira Lal, a painter by profession and a native of Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, under Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
The child's body, with the throat slit and multiple stab wounds, was discovered near a dumping site in Ram Darbar on January 22, 2024, three days after she went missing on January 19.
After the body was found, police had identified Hira Lal with the help of CCTV footage which showed him carrying a handbag. His house was raided and found locked since January 19, the same day the child went missing.
Police broke the locks and found the slippers of the victim in the house that confirmed that the child was brought there. A chase spanning three states, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, ensued and finally, on the seventh day, police managed to trace him to Nawada, Arrah, in Bihar.
The accused was subsequently found to have two wives and five children, the eldest being a 13-year-old daughter. According to police, he was cheating on both his wives, as none of them knew about each other.
'Rarest of rare: Extremely brutal, bestial and barbaric crime'
The court remarked that the manner of commission of crime was extremely brutal, bestial and barbaric.
The convict took the victim to his room, removed her garments, committed anal sex with her and also committed rape with her. In the postmortem report of the victim, there is mention of bite marks, having two semicircular arches with their concavities facing each other, in the form of bluish contusion, which was present over the right side of face.
'From this report, although it is not possible to assess how many times the victim was raped, it is proved beyond doubt that victim was brutally raped by the convict,' said the court.
'Convict hasn't shown any guilt or remorse'
While pronouncing the death penalty for the convict, the court came down heavily on the convict for never showing any guilt or remorse on account of his barbaric deeds, right from the inception of the investigation, till the conclusion of the trial.
The convict committed rape and brutal murder of a girl child, aged eight years and 11 months. The victim suffered nine major injuries, including cuts, abrasions and tearing of private parts, the court noted.
'As per the disclosure made by the convict, he had killed the victim by cutting her throat with a knife. The dead body of the victim was recovered...in a heap of garbage near the public toilets. At that time her clothes were stained with blood at places. The convict tried to escape the consequences of his acts by hiding the body of the victim in the heap of garbage and by trying to abscond. He never showed any guilt or remorse... Rather, he has been raising false defences of blind rape and murder, misuse of blood sample and false implication,' the court held.
'Must use sword of justice with utmost severity'
Before handing out the sentence, the court observed with concern how children were ignorant of the act of rape and not able to offer resistance: '...they become easy prey for lusty brutes, who display the unscrupulous, deceitful and insidious art of luring female children and young girls. Therefore, such offenders who are a menace to the civilised society should be mercilessly and inexorably punished in the severest terms. We feel that judges who bear the Sword of Justice should not hesitate to use that sword with the utmost severity, to the full and to the end if the gravity of the offences so demand.'
Court quotes UN convention to make world better for children
In the judgment, the court cited the UN convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) adopted in the United Nations General Assembly in 1989. 'The UNCRC is the most complete statement of children's rights ever made. It has been ratified by 196 countries and India has ratified the convention on December 11, 1992, and our nation is committed to the core principles of the convention, which includes survival and protection of children. Hence, adequate punishment must be granted to the offenders against children to safeguard the right of survival and protection, of children,' it said.
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