E-Paper
Rape & murder of 2 sisters: Minor found guilty; sixth conviction in case
The two minor sisters were kidnapped from their house, raped and strangulated to death on September 14, 2022. Their bodies were found hanging in a sugarcane field.
The Juvenile Justice Board here on Saturday found a minor guilty of the gory murder and gangrape of two minor sisters in Nighasan Kotwali area on September 14 last year. It has ordered that the juvenile convict be kept at a childcare institution for a period of three years.
With the fresh conviction, all six persons accused of the crime have been found guilty by courts.
Assistant prosecuting officer (APO) Vijay Kumar told HT that the board, comprising principal magistrate Ravi Pandey and members Hare Ram and Ranjana Srivastava, also slapped a fine of ₹37,000 under various sections of the IPC and Pocso Act on the convict.
Kumar added the board held the juvenile guilty under sections 363 (kidnapping), 376DA (gangrape of a woman under 16 years of age), 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 34 (criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of a crime) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and section 5G/6 of POCSO act.
The two minor sisters of a village in Nighasan Kotwali area were kidnapped from their house, gangraped and strangulated to death on September 14, 2022. Their bodies were found hanging in a sugarcane field.
A special investigation team (SIT), in an overnight operation, nabbed six persons. Two of them were minors. The SIT filed its chargesheet within 14 days.
The trial of four adult accused--Sunil, Junaid, Karimuddin and Arif--and the fifth accused between the age of 16 and 18 was conducted at the special court while the trial of the sixth accused, who’s below 16, was done by the juvenile justice board.
On August 14, the special court awarded life sentences to Sunil and Junaid under sections 302/34, 376DA, 452, 363, 201 of the IPC and 5g/6 of the Pocso Act and six-year rigorous imprisonment to Karimuddin and Arif, who were held guilty under section 201 of the IPC.
The court held the fifth accused, a juvenile at the time, also guilty under sections 302/34, 376DA, 452, 363, 201 of the IPC and 5g/6 of the Pocso act and awarded him a life sentence with the possibility of release. Deo Kant Pandey