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Delhi's Tis Hazari court awarded death penalty to a rape and murder convict on Friday and handed life imprisonment to his father, who was also involved with him in the crime.
The court considered the case as the 'rarest of rare' cases and said that for the punishable offence under section 376-AB of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), convict Rajender alias Satish, is sentenced to death, and he shall be hanged by the neck till he is dead, subject to confirmation by the High Court of Delhi. "It is a rarest of rare cases and for the offence punishable under section 376-AB IPC- he is sentenced to death and he shall be hanged by neck till he is dead subject to confirmation by the High Court of Delhi", the court ordered on Friday, the court said in its order on Friday. Special judge (POCSO) Babita Puniya awarded the death penalty to man who was convicted for raping and brutally murdering a 7 years old girls in Nihal Vihar area in 2019. "I am of the view that if leniency is shown to the convict, the court would be failing in its duty towards the victim and society at large which demands stringent punishment who commit such heinous crimes," Special Judge Babita Puniya said. "Convict killed the innocent child without any compunction as if she was not worthy of living anymore. She also had the right to bloom like a flower in a safe environment, which we as a society failed to provide her," special judge Puniya said in the order of sentence. The court awarded a life sentence to the father, Ramsaran, stating, "I am of the view that his case does not fit in the bracket of 'rarest of rare cases'. He was not present when his son kidnapped the deceased victim and brought her to his house." "However, he does not deserve any leniency as he participated in the commission of gruesome murder of an innocent defenseless child to wipe out the evidence of rape committed by his son," the court further said. The judge referred to story and said, "I feel like citing this story because if the father had scolded his son for the first offence, instead of finding ways to save him, then it would have had a deterrent effect on his subsequent crime. He probably wouldn't have committed the next crime. "But instead of showing him the right path, he tried to hide his son's misdeeds and ended up murdering a seven-year-old defenseless child," the court pointed out. The court convicted the father-son duo on February 24, 2025. Dr Sharawan Kumar Bishnoi, Special Public Prosecutor, appeared for the State; RR Jha, legal aid counsel for the convict son; Anil Kumar Jha appeared for the father; Anshul Pratap Singh, legal aid counsel, appeared for the complainant; and Dr. Shivani Gambhir appeared for DCW. Dr. Sharawan Kumar Bishnoi, SPP, while seeking maximum punishment, had submitted that the convict's son has become a threat to the community, and it is necessary to eliminate him if we really want to save our children from him. In support of his plea, he submitted that when he was aged about 20 years, he kidnapped a girl aged about 8 years who was going to a nearby eatery to buy chowmein and then committed penetrative sexual assault upon her and while on bail in that case of 2016, he kidnapped another girl of same age group (deceased) and this time, he not only raped her vaginally and anally but also murdered her with the help of his father. He submitted that in both the cases, his prey were little defenseless girls. The court had convicted the father son duo in a case of kidnapping, rape and murder on February 24, 2025 The FIR in the case was registered by the Delhi Police in February 2019. After the murder and rape the body of the deceased was dumped in a park. The deceased was raped, strangulated and her forehead was hit by a brick. Both accused were identified with the help of CCTV footage from a camera near the house. Both accused were seen going on a scooter, holding a plastic bag. While convicting them, the court said that the circumstantial evidence was complete and consistent with the only conclusion that the accused persons, in furtherance of their common intention, had committed the gruesome murder of the deceased victim. The court had held guilty son and convicted for the offence punishable under section 6 POCSO Act, sections 363 (Kidnapping of a minor), 366 ( Kidnapping for illicit sexual relation) 376- AB (raping a woman age below 12 years) IPC and section 302 (Murder) /34 IPC. The court also sentenced the son to five years' imprisonment for the offence under section 363 IPC and seven years' imprisonment for the offence under section 366 IPC. The court had said, "This court is of the view that the circumstances and the evidence adduced by the prosecution form a complete chain leading to the inevitable conclusion that it was accused son and no one else who kidnapped the deceased victim to fulfill his lust and committed penetrative sexual assault upon her and that accused son and his father were responsible for the brutal murder of deceased victim." "This court, therefore, is of the view that the prosecution has successfully established its case beyond any reasonable doubt against the accused son under sections 363/366/376-AB IPC, section 302/34 IPC and section 6 POCSO Act and against the accused father under section 302/34 IPC," the court said in the judgment of February 24, 2025. As per Prosecution, the FIR was registered on the complaint filed by the father of the deceased on February 9, 2019. Her body was found the following day in a park. Her hands and legs were tied with a plastic rope. There were ligature marks around her neck. She was taken to the hospital and declared dead by the doctors. The cause of death was sexual assault and being hit by a blunt object on the forehead, as per the post-mortem report. (ANI)
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