Gujarat man: Gujarat man sentenced to death for raping and murdering 8-year-old girl | News from India

GIR SOMNATH: A special POCSO Court has sentenced a 32-year-old man to death for the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Gujarat. Gir Somnath District in 2022. In an order passed on Monday Special Judge SI Bhorania in Kodinar town ordered that the accused, Somabhai Solankiwould be “hanged by the neck until he died” and was also fined Rs 25,000.
The court considered this to be the “rarest of rare cases” after finding that the defendant crime in a very cruel and heartless manner, leaving him with no other option but to sentence him to death. The gruesome crime took place in June 2022 in a village in Kodinar taluka of Gir Somnath district.
The district police had formed a special investigation team which arrested Solanki 25 days after the horrific incident, said public prosecutor Ketansinh Vala. The accused was charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for rape, murder of the underage girl and the disposal of her body in a remote location.
“A total of 55 pieces of evidence were presented to the court and the prosecution questioned the victim’s family members, her neighbours, the police and forensic officers during the trial,” Vala told media representatives.
The scientific and circumstantial evidence collected by the investigators helped the prosecution secure a conviction and the harshest punishment for the accused, he said. The court also ordered that Rs 1.7 crore be paid to the family of the minor girl under the Gujarat Victim Compensation Scheme 2019.