Man gets death penalty in minor’s rape, murder case

Bhubaneswar:  A Special POCSO court in Bargarh district on Tuesday sentenced a man to death after finding him guilty of the rape and murder of a six-year-old minor girl in Paikmal area of the district in November 2024.

“On November 15, 2024, at around 9 am, the six-year-old girl and her grandfather were at their house when the accused, identified as Prashanta Bag (21), called the victim to go fishing.

Bag, along with two other minors, took the girl to a nearby water body,” said Dyutish Acharya, special Public Prosecutor in-charge.

Acharya said after a few minutes, Bag left the two other minors at the water body and took the girl alone into the jungle, where he sexually assaulted her. Fearing that she might reveal the incident to her family, he brutally bludgeoned her to death. The accused also strangled the victim with a belt.

When the victim’s grandfather, who had gone to his paddy field for harvesting, returned after a few hours, he found Bag at his house with blood on his cheek.

Suspecting foul play, he asked Bag the whereabouts of his granddaughter. Bag gave evasive answers, claiming he had sent her away long ago and did not know where she was.

The grandfather and other villagers began searching for the victim and eventually found the girl’s body lying nude in a pool of blood in the nearby jungle, with severe head injuries.

They also discovered that her neck had been tied with a belt.

The villagers and family members caught Bag and handed him over to the police. Based on the grandfather’s complaint, Paikmal police registered a case and arrested Bag on November 15, 2024.

After examining the statements of 37 prosecution witnesses, 55 documents, and 27 material objects, the court pronounced its judgment on Tuesday.

The family of the deceased was awarded a compensation of Rs 15 lakh under the victim compensation scheme. Northern Range IG Himanshu Kumar Lal said that the judgment of the case will certainly become a deterrent against the heinous crimes against women and girls.