Bihar: Gopalganj man to hang for minor’s rape, murder

PATNA: A 20-year-old man Jaikishore Sah was sentenced to death by a court in Gopalganj on Saturday for raping and killing a nine-year-old girl from his neighbourhood.
The incident took place at Bakhraur village under Sidhwalia police station area on August 25 last year, soon after the convict returned during the lockdown from Patna, where he sold sugarcane juice.
Gopalganj civil court public prosecutor Deo Vansh Giri told TOI over the phone that charges against Sah were framed before the special court (POCSO Act) of ADJ-VI Balendra Shukla on January 27 this year.
“The special court pronounced the sentence within 25 days of the framing of charges and six months of the incident,” Giri said.
Giri further said the convict after raping and killing her, chopped off the girl’s body into five pieces and packed them into a bag. ”Her head and limbs were severed,” he added.
The post-mortem report said there were human bite marks on the entire body of the minor girl. The public prosecutor said Sah did not have any lawyer to represent him after which a noted criminal lawyer Abu Shamim was allocated from a panel of lawyers to represent him.
Special public prosecutor (POCSO Act) Daroga Singh said the minor used to play with the convict's toddler son.
“On the day of the incident, the girl reached his house to play with the kid but Sah’s wife and son were not at home. Taking advantage, he raped and killed the girl. He packed the body in a bag and hid it on an overhead rack inside his home,” Singh said.
The prosecutor further said that the girl’s parents started searching for her and later informed the police. “Sah was the prime suspect as he was missing and his house was locked. Police forced its entry inside the house and found the body kept on a rack following a blood trail. Sah was arrested within hours of body recovery,” he said.
The court sentenced Sah to death after holding him guilty under Sections 376AB (punishment for rape of woman less than 12 years), 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with Sections 6 and 10 of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (Amendment) Act, 2019.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)