2015 Alwar rape case: Rajasthan court convicts Rajkumar, awards death sentence

A Rajasthan court on Wednesday convicted Rajkumar alias Dharmendra in a 2015 rape and murder of a five-year-old girl. Terming the incident a rarest of the rare crime, the court sentenced the rapist to death. After hearing the arguments from both sides, special judge Ajay Kumar Sharma found Rajkumar guilty of rape and murder. Pronouncing the verdict, the judge said that it was an inhuman act and the convict deserved no punishment less than death sentence.

On February 1, 2015, the five-year-old little girl from Rewali village in Always’s Behror was raped and brutally murdered by Rajkumar, who happened to be her neighbour. Rajkumar lured the baby with a chocolate and took her to an abandoned house where he first raped her and then stoned to death.

The incident sparked a massive outrage in the area with people demanding death penalty for the guilty. Rajkumar was charged with IPC section 363, 365, 201, 376, 302 and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The court sentenced the accused with seven years of rigorous imprisonment and Rs 5,000 fine under section 201, seven year rigorous jail term under section 363, imprisonment till today and fine of Rs 10,000 under section 376 and death penalty along with another Rs 5,000 fine under the section 302 of the IPC.

Taking very strong cognisance of the incident, the judge said that the barbaric incident shook the collective conscience of the entire society and the court need to give a message of zero tolerance in cases of minors’ rape.

The way he sexually assaulted the little girl and then murdered her by hitting her head with a large stone act was brutal enough to be considered rarest of the rare, the judge said in the his judgment.