A 23-year-old man from Gujarat was given the death penalty by a Surat court on Wednesday for raping and killing a two-year-old girl in February. The judge also directed the state government to pay ₹ 10 lakh compensation to the victim’s family.
The accused, Yusuf Ismail, was a friend of the girl’s father. He lured the girl with snacks and took her to a nearby shop.
He then sexually assaulted her and stabbed her with a knife. He dumped her body in an open field and fled, but was arrested by the police the next day.
The court found him guilty of murder and rape under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The prosecution demanded the death penalty for him, arguing that it was a ‘rarest of rare’ case.
The judge agreed with the prosecution and awarded him the capital punishment. She said that he had committed a heinous crime against an innocent child and deserved no mercy.