Ludhiana shocker: Man gets death sentence for rape-murder of 4-yr-old
The court additional session judge (fast track special court under POCSO Act), Ludhaina, has awarded death penalty to a 28-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh for the rape and murder of a four-year-old girl
Ludhiana : The court additional session judge (fast track special court under POCSO Act), Ludhaina, has awarded death penalty to a 28-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh for the rape and murder of a four-year-old girl.
Additional session judge Amar Jeet Singh found the accused, Sonu Singh, guilty of committing the crime.
The court has sentenced the accused to death under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The court has also imposed a fine of ₹5.5 lakh on the accused and ordered compensation of ₹10 lakh to the victim’s family.
According to the prosecution, the accused, who was known to the victim’s family and was a guest in their neighbourhood, lured the girl with a chocolate and raped her on December 28, 2023. After committing the crime, the accused dumped the victim’s body in a bed box at the house of his relatives and fled.
The police had registered a first information report (FIR) a day after the crime (December 29, 2023) at the Daba police station in Ludhiana, when the victim’s body was found. The accused was arrested 20 days later from Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh.
In its judgment, the court described the crime as “rarest of rare” and stated that the accused’s actions were depraved and deserved only one sentence — death. The court observed that the victim was an innocent child, and that the crime had shocked the conscience of the society.
“The victim was an innocent girl, defence-less and unprotected. The despicable nature of the offense shocks the conscience of the entire society. Even in ordinary criminal terminology, rape is a crime more heinous than murder as it destroys the very soul of a hapless woman. Such criminals are a danger to society and are beyond reformation and rehabilitation,” the court said in its order.
The court also noted that the accused had shown no remorse for his actions and tried to justify his crime by claiming that he was under the influence of liquor.
The police had submitted a chargesheet in a court detailing the circumstances of the crime. The chargesheet stated that the accused took away the victim after giving her a chocolate, and then raped and murdered her. The police had also recovered CCTV footage that showed the accused taking the victim away.
The autopsy report had confirmed that the victim died due to asphyxia caused by throttling, and that there were signs of forced penetration. The DNA of the accused had also matched with the vaginal swabs of the victim.
