‘Convict acted in cold-blooded manner… betrayed trust of eight-year-old girl'

Indian Express

2 days ago

Stating that the convict has acted in the most 'conniving and treacherous manner' and betrayed 'the trust of a minor', a fast track court of District Court Chandigarh on Tuesday awarded death sentence to a 40-year-old man for raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl.
The special court presided by Additional Sessions Judge Yashika ordered the death sentence to convict Hira Lal, alias Guddu, under Section 6 of the POCSO Act, and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000. 'He shall be hanged by neck till he is dead, subject to the confirmation of the sentence by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana,' the court ordered.
The convict can file an appeal before the Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh, within a period of 30 days, as per the Article 115 of The Limitation Act, 1963, according to the order.
The court also ordered Rs 17 lakh compensation be granted to the dependents of the victim as a final compensation under the victim compensation scheme.
'In the present case, the convict has acted in a most conniving and treacherous manner. He has betrayed the trust of a minor girl child, aged eight years and 11 months. The convict took all care to commit the barbaric acts of rape and murder of the child, in extreme secrecy, and in a cold-blooded manner. Here, the convict is a mature man aged about 40 years,' Justice Yashika noted.
Underscoring that the minor was 'incapable to protest against the convict', the judge observed that Hira Lal made the victim 'prey' of his 'lust'.
'The postmortem report shows various injuries on the body of the victim. These injuries shows the gruesome manner in which she was subjected to rape. The victim of crime is an innocent child who did not provide even an excuse, much less a provocation for murder. Such cruelty towards a young child is appalling. The convict had stooped so low as to unleash his monstrous self on the innocent, helpless and defenceless child. This act no doubt had invited extreme indignation of the community and shocked the collective conscience of the society,' the court held.
Further, it observed that the convict is a 'menace to the society' and cannot be reformed, describing the case as 'rarest of the rare'.
According to the police, Hira Lal has two wives and is the father of five children, the eldest being 13 years old. The police said he was cheating on both his wives, as neither knew about the other.
According to the prosecution, the rape victim's body, with her throat slit and multiple stab wounds, was discovered near a dumping site in Ram Darbar in January 2024, three days after she went missing. An autopsy later confirmed rape.
The girl was kidnapped from near her home by Hira Lal, who then took her to his house and committed the crime. After the girl's body was found, the police identified him on the basis of the CCTV footage. His house was found locked. The police broke into the house and found inside the victim's slippers, which then confirmed that the child had been brought there.
Aftera seven-day manhunt, the police arrested Hira Lal, a native of Uttar Pradesh, from Bihar.
During the trial, the defence counsel argued that Hira Lal had been falsely implicated in the FIR. The court, however, held him guilty.