Lucknow: A Pocso court in Bahraich awarded death sentence to a 26-year-old man for the murder and sexual assault of a seven-year-old boy. The conviction came in record two months from the registration of the FIR.Special judge Arbind Kumar Gautam sentenced Mukesh Nishad under the charges of BNS 103 (1) (murder), and Pocso Act. The court also imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on the convict. The court had convicted Nishad on Wednesday and announced the punishment on Thursday.Special district govt counsel Sant Pratap Singh said the incident took place on May 2 night when the boy went with his two brothers to watch a DJ programme in a Bahraich village.While returning home late night, the siblings met their neighbour Mukesh Nishad, who asked them to accompany him . While the victim’s two brothers refused, the seven-year-old went with the accused. The next morning, the boy’s body was found with injuries to his private parts.According to the prosecution, Nishad was in a relationship with a village girl and believed the victim had informed the girl’s mother after seeing him in a compromising situation with the girl. The matter allegedly became known in the village, causing embarrassment to the accused.“Nishad blamed the victim’s family for damaging his reputation and had threatened not to spare their child,” Singh said.“The court held that the crime fell within the “rarest of rare” category due to its brutality, motive, and impact on society. The court observed that the convict committed an exceptionally heinous crime against an innocent child and that the case met the legal standards laid down by the Supreme Court for imposing capital punishment in cases involving sexual assault and murder of minors,” said Sant Pratap Singh.The court referred to several landmark SC judgments, including cases involving the rape and murder of young children and the 2012 Delhi gangrape case (Nirbhaya), where the apex court upheld the death penalty for crimes deemed exceptionally barbaric and shocking to society.“Effective investigation and strong prosecution led to conviction of the accused in record time,” said Bahraich SP Vishwajeet Srivastava.Police registered the FIR on May 13 and filed the chargesheet in the court on June 20. The charges were framed on June 22.
