Mumbai: The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday confirmed the death sentence of a Thane man for raping and brutally murdering a 3-year-old girl eight years ago. “The act of the accused is gruesome and is committed in a diabolic manner,” said the division bench of justice Sadhana Jadhav and justice Prithviraj Chavan, while confirming capital punishment for 30-year-old Ramkirat Munilal Goud, a resident of Anand Nagar slum on Ghodbunder Road. “It is a heinous offence. It is unimaginable that a cheerful, frolicking child enjoying with her pet would provoke the feelings of lust in a man who is a father of two daughters and a son,” said the bench and concluded that the perversity in the mind of the accused was apparent on the face of the record.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place on September 30th, 2013, when the child was playing outside her house in Thane with her pet dog. The girl went missing from the spot, following which her parents search in the area. They found the dog tied in a nearby chawl, but could not find the girl. Eventually, on October 2nd, her body was found thrown in a mud pond in the vicinity. The autopsy had revealed that the girl had a fatal head injury. On October 3rd, the police arrested Goud and booked him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012, for raping and murdering the child.
On March 8th, 2019, a special Pocso court in Thane convicted him on the basis of circumstantial evidence and sentenced him to death. The high court on Thursday upheld his conviction and confirmed the capital punishment, observing that the autopsy revealed that the child had been brutally sexually assaulted before she was murdered. The cause of death was “death due to head injury with extensive genital injuries.” Meanwhile, the bench on Thursday acquitted Rahimuddin Shaikh, a convict sentenced to a death sentence for raping two women and killing one of them at Belapur in Navi Mumbai in 2012. He was given the benefit of doubt and was acquitted of all charges levelled against him.