Jagatsinghpur: The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences court here Tuesday awarded capital punishment to a youth for raping and then killing a nine-year-old girl at Gadharishpur village under Erasama police limits in this district in 2018.
Sessions judge Munrani Mishra heard the matter and awarded death sentence to Kalia after convicting him of rape and murder of the minor girl that occurred March 20, 2018.
The judge passed the order based on the statements recorded by 25 witnesses, circumstantial evidence and police charge-sheet. Tears flowed down the cheeks of the victim’s family members as the judge pronounced the order. They thanked god and the judiciary for providing justice to the soul of their departed daughter.
The incident occurred when the victim was playing with her friends on the village road. Kalia reached the spot and lured the victim to a nearby cashew plantation and raped her.
Later, Kalia strangled the girl to death and dumped her body there before fleeing. Her family members searched for the girl when she did not come home by evening. They became apprehensive and searched for her at all possible locations but failed.
The matter came to the fore when a woman who had gone outside to relieve herself spotted the body of the girl in the cashew orchard. She came back home and informed her family members who in turn informed villagers.
Family members of the girl rushed to the spot and identified the body. Villagers informed Erasama police and the same day the victim’s father also lodged a complaint in the police station. Police registered a case and sent the body for post-mortem. Kalia was arrested from Badambadi in Cuttack.