Within nine days of a crime, a Bihar court on Saturday awarded death penalty to a man who raped and murdered a three-year-old girl, a lawyer said.

District and sessions court of Bateshwar Nath Pandey based in Katihar, about 160 km from Patna, handed out death penalty to Sanjay Rishi for the rape-cum-murder of the victim who was related to him, a prosecutor said.

The court described the incident as "rarest of rare" and sent Rishi to the gallows for the January 24 incident.

According to police chargesheet, Rishi first raped the victim and then killed her in a village in Katihar.

Police officials said that it was the first time that any court in Bihar had awarded death to a rapist in a record time of nine days after the shocking December 16, 2012 gangrape of a student in Delhi that triggered protests across the country.