Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 27: Sanjeev Gupta, Presiding Officer Fast Track Court constituted to deal with the cases related to crime against women, today awarded death sentence to Mohd Rashid, alias Abdul Rashid, son of Gulam Mohd of Kukernag, who was facing trial for rape and murder of a minor girl.
According to the police case, on August 28, 2005 Pacca Danga Police received an information that an unidentified dead body of a girl lying near Kachi Chawni crossing was taken to Government Medical College, Hospital, Jammu by some passers-by.
Accordingly, a case was registered and after completion of investigation police presented challan against the accused under Sections 320/363/376 RPC.
After hearing Special PP Ravinder Sharma for the State, Sanjeev Gupta observed, “circumstances cumulatively taken together lead to the only irresistible conclusion that it was the accused alone who is the perpetrator of the crime and therefore an inference can be drawn from the proved circumstances that deceased, aged about 10 years studying at the relevant time in 3rd Class, was first subjected to monstrous sexual assault by the accused and was then mercilessly killed by throttling her neck causing asphyxia”.
While convicting the accused, the Court further observed, “it becomes clear that if for the extremely heinous crime of murder perpetrated in a very brutal manner without any provocation, most deterrent punishment is not given, the case of deterrent punishment will lose its relevance”, adding “there are no extenuating or mitigating circumstances whatsoever in the case rather after drawing a balance sheet of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances for the purposes of determining whether the extreme sentence of death should be imposed upon the convict or not”.
“The mitigating circumstances projected by the counsel for the convict are hardly favorable to him and the scale of justice only moves against the convict as there is nothing but aggravating circumstances which is evident from the whole case. It is the responsibility of the holders of the judicial power centre to eliminate ‘monsters’ disguised as humans in order to make the world suitable enough to live in, keeping in view the ruthless manner in which the offence has been committed”, the Court said.
Accordingly, the Court awarded death sentence to the convict.
Before parting with the judgment, Sanjeev Gupta said, “the Court would like to state that the family of victim on account of brutal murder of their only female child must have suffered tremendous amount of pain and agony”, adding “keeping in view the poor status of the family of victim an amount of Rs 2 lakh shall be provided by the State Government as financial assistance to the family within a period of one month”.
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