Cuttack: The Special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Court, Cuttack on Thursday awarded the death sentence to Mohammad Mushtaq for the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in Cuttack district on April 24, 2018.
The court had convicted Mushtaq on Wednesday.
According to the case records, the convict had abducted the girl from a village on the night of April 24, 2018 by luring her with the pretext of giving her chocolates. He then took her to a school at the village and raped her. As the girl shouted, he crushed her head with a brick.
Meanwhile, the girl’s family found her the next morning and admitted her to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack. A 13-member team of doctors was constituted to treat her, but she succumbed to her injuries on April 29.
Following a complaint by the deceased’s family, police had arrested Mushtaq.
This is the fourth incident in Odisha in the past two months in which the POCSO court has awarded the death penalty to minor rape and murder convicts.
While the Special POCSO Court in Angul had awarded death penalty to Srinibas Dehury on July 26, the two other accused—Yaminikanta Mohanta of Mayurbhanj district and Laba Mana of Jagatsinghpur district—were awarded death penalty on August 29 and September 10, respectively.
