Mandsaur gang-rape: Madhya Pradesh court awards death penalty to two men

BHOPAL: Nearly two months after a seven-year-old girl was kidnapped and gang-raped by two men in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district, a court handed death sentence to the duo on Tuesday.

This is the 13th case this year in Madhya Pradesh in which those convicted of sexual crimes against minors was awarded capital punishment. Additional District and Sessions judge Nisha Gupta held Bhaiyu alias Irfan, 20, and Asif Mewati, 24, guilty and gave capital punishment to the two convicts for the June 26 ghastly act.

The duo was booked for gang-rape, abduction and attempt to murder under the IPC sections, besides being booked under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. While Irfan was arrested on June 28, Asif was caught the next day.The charge sheet was filed on July 12, while the charges against the accused were framed in the court six days later. The actual trial started with the submission of evidence before the court from July 30. A total of 37 prosecution witnesses testified during eight days of trial.

Case that shook the country

• The minor was lured by the two men when she was waiting for her parents, outside her school on June 26.

• Irfan took her to a secluded place where she was raped and tortured.

• Her throat was also slit. She, however, survived.

• Doctors were shocked on seeing injuries.

“The arguments were completed by both sides on August 14 and the verdict was reserved for its pronouncement on Tuesday,” Mandsaur Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Singh told TNIE.The judge took into account the available evidence, including submissions of witnesses, the DNA report of the clothes and undergarments of Irfan, CCTV grabs and the statements of the rape survivor, to decide the case.

On June 26 evening, the Class III girl was kidnapped from near the gate of her school, while she was waiting for parents to return home. She was raped by the duo, who also tried to brutally murder her, but the minor survived miraculously. Later, the minor was found lying unconscious in Laxman Darwaja area. She was admitted to the MY Hospital in Indore, where timely surgery saved her life.

Mandsaur saw repeated protests with demonstrators forcing shutdown of markets, schools and colleges, and demanding that the accused be hanged at the earliest. Subsequently, the MP government had formed an SIT under DSP Rakesh Mohan Shukla to probe the case.