Rape And Murder Of Infant Girl: Indore District Court Awards Death Penalty Within 23 Days Of Incident [Read Judgment]

The Indore District Court has reportedly set a record of sorts on Saturday when it completed final hearing and arguments in a case concerning the rape and murder of a four-month-old girl in Rajwada in just seven working days. The trial culminated in death penalty for the convict, Naveen Gadge within 23 days of the incident.

The judgment was pronounced by Judge Varsha Sharma, who found him guilty for kidnapping, rape and murder of the infant, under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

She further opined that the case falls within the "rarest of the rare" category. Terming it an "inhuman act", she was quoted as saying, "Such a small child who didn't know anything other than crying was treated inhumanly."

The victim was sleeping with her parents, who sell balloons for a living, on the street outside the Rajwada Fort in Indore, when Gadge took her to the vacant basement of a building and raped her. As the baby kept crying, he killed her for the fear of getting caught. Her body was spotted hours later by a shopkeeper.

The police scanned the CCTV footage of the area to nab him. Gadge, who is a cousin of the girls' mother, was arrested the same day.