Hearing on Salepur rape case begins

CUTTACK:The special children’s court dealing with cases registered under Protection of Children from Sexual Offense(POCSO) Act on Tuesday started ‘hearing’ on Salepur minor girl’s rape and murder case.On the first date of the hearing, the Presiding Officer of the Children’s court examined two witnesses in connection with the case. While Dr S Jajodia of Salepur CHC, who had referred the victim to SCB Medical College and Hospital after providing her first aid, was examined and cross examined, Dr Amarendra Nayak of SCBMCH who had performed post-mortem of the victim’s body deposed before the special court. However, Nayak’s cross examination was adjourned to Wednesday, informed Special Public Prosecutor Akhay Nayak.

As many as 46 witnesses including another doctor who had conducted medical examination of the victim have been summoned to depose before the court. To expedite the judicial process, the court will conduct hearing on the case consecutively for three days from Tuesday.Notably, the gruesome incident occurred, a day after the Union Cabinet approved an ordinance last month sanctioning death penalty for the convict of rape of a child less than 12 years of age.

Taking advantage of power-cut, the 25-year-old accused Mohammad Mustaque had taken the six-year-old girl of his neighbour to Jagannathpur UP School alluring her with chocolates on April 21 and tried to rape her.When the protested and threatened to reveal the incident to her parents, Mustaque tried to kill her by banging her head repeatedly on the wall. When she fell unconscious, he mistook her to be dead and left the spot. After undergoing treatment for a week, the girl succumbed at SCB Medical College on April 29.

While the Crime Branch of Odisha Police had designated the incident as a “Red Flag” case, DGP Dr RP Sharma directed the investigating officer (IO) to file charge sheet within 15 days.After conducting a thorough investigation, police filed the charge sheet running to more than 500 pages in 12 days.