Death penalty for painter who raped, murdered 8-yr-old girl

Special POCSO court orders 40-year-old convict to be hanged by neck, till he is dead, for the gruesome January 2024 crime

- Aneesha Sareen Kumar

CHANDIGARH: Calling it a crime most brutal, bestial and barbaric that clearly falls in the "rarest of the rare" category, a special POCSO court in Chandigarh on Tuesday awarded death penalty to a 40-year-old man who raped and murdered an eight-year-old girl in the city in January 2024.

The court of additional sessions judge Yashika ruled that the convict, Hira Lal, be hanged by neck, till he is dead, only after confirmation by the Punjab and Haryana high court.

"The entire record of the case, along with the duly sealed electronic evidence, be submitted before the high court for confirmation of death sentence under Section 366 (1) CrPC," said the court.

It also ordered the State Legal Services Authority to disburse a compensation of ₹17 lakh to the dependants of the victim.

On Monday, the court had convicted Hira Lal, a painter by profession and a native of Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, under Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

The child's body, with the throat slit and multiple stab wounds, was discovered near a dumping site in Ram Darbar on January 22, 2024, three days after she went missing on January 19.