Siliguri court awards death penalty to accused in rape-murder case of minor

Siliguri (West Bengal) [India], September 8 (ANI): A Siliguri court on Saturday awarded the death penalty to a convict in the 2023 rape and murder case of a minor girl.

An Additional district and sessions Judge on Saturday sentenced MD Abbas to death within the 13 months after the minor was brutally raped and murdered in 2023.

The Additional Sessions Judge Anita Meherotra Mathur came to the end of the case after recording 33 witnesses and prosecution’s arguments.

Speaking to ANI, Special Public Prosecutor Bivas Chatterjee said, “On the last occasion, we pleaded for the death sentence because three sections on which the punishment was proved among the other sections carries a maximum punishment. So last day I had a one-and-a-half hour hearing on this point trying to project this case as one of the rarest of the rare cases.”

Bivas Chatterjee said that the death sentence was awarded in two consecutive sections – one is section 302, which is murder and another is section 6 of the POCSO Act.

“The death sentence was awarded in two consecutive sections. One is section 302, which is murder and another is section 6 of the POCSO Act,” Chatterjee said.

The incident happened on August 21, 2023, when the minor girl, heading for school, was brutally raped and murdered in an abandoned area under the jurisdiction of the Matigara Police Station in Siliguri. The Matigara police launched an investigation and arrested MD Abbas within six hours of the crime.