Additional sessions court/special Pocso court in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district on Thursday sentenced a 21-year-old man to death for the sexual assault and murder of a seven-year-old boy in May this year.
Event Context
The court also imposed a fine of ₹100,000 on the accused Mukesh Nishad and ordered that 50% of the fine amount be paid as compensation to the victim’s father.
Pronouncing the judgment, additional sessions judge Aravind Kumar Gautam said the crime fell under the “rarest of the rare” category. Special district government counsel (Pocso) Sant Pratap Singh said the accused was convicted within one month and 14 working days.
Singh said one Lakshman Nishad of Dayalpurwa, Kaiserganj, Bahraich, had filed a complaint that his seven-year-old son had gone to attend a wedding in the village on May 12, but did not return home that night.
The next morning, the child’s body was found in the bushes around 400 metres from their house, with a wound on his neck. Lakshman Nishad alleged that the accused Mukesh Nishad had previously assaulted his family on May 5 and had threatened to kill his son.
Following his complaint, an FIR was registered at Kaiserganj police Station on May 13 under Section 103(1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and sections 5(m)/6 of the Pocso Act, 2012.
During the investigation, the name of Ramvijay Nishad was dropped due to lack of evidence. A charge sheet was filed only against Mukesh Nishad. Charges were framed on June 22.
Citing the Supreme Court and high court precedents, including Bandu vs State of U.P. (2008) 11 SCC 113 and Mohanlal vs. State (2019), the court observed that the barbaric nature of the crime warranted the maximum punishment.
