Bhopal: In a speedy judgment, a Bhopal court on Thursday awarded death sentence to a 35-year-old man for raping and killing a minor girl last month.
Special Judge for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Kumudini Patel pronounced the punishment to Vishnu Bamora on two separate offenses under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder) and 376-AB (raping a girl of 12-year-old and below).
The convict was also sentenced to life for the offense of unnatural sex with the eight-year-old girl, state prosecution cell’s spokesperson Sudha Vijay Singh Bhadoriya said.
The judge also awarded him three years’ and seven years’ imprisonments under IPC Sections 363 and 366, respectively, for kidnapping for forced and illicit intercourse, Bhadoriya said.
The POCSO court ordered all the sentences to run concurrently.
Bamora was pronounced guilty on the basis of reports of the DNA test conducted by the Bhopal and Sagar-based forensic science laboratories and taking into account other vital aspects.
The girl went missing after she came out of her house in Kamla Nagar area on June 8 to make a purchase. Her body was found next morning near a drain in the area.
Bamora was arrested from Mortakka village in Khandwa on June 10.
This is the 27th death sentence pronounced in Madhya Pradesh after it passed a law in February 2018 for capital punishment to rapists and murderers of minors below 12 years of age.
The accused reportedly showed no emotions after getting the harsh sentence.
After confessing to the crime soon after his arrest on June 11, Barmore had changed his statement in court on July 4 and claimed he was innocent. However, a 108-page charge-sheet and 40 witnesses presented in the court by the prosecution proved he was guilty of the charges.
The post-mortem report had confirmed sexual assault and death due to strangulation. Home Minister Bala Bachchan suspended seven policemen, including a head constable, for inaction in the case.