A court in Madhya Pradesh has awarded death sentence to a man for killing his two minor nieces after raping one of them on suspicion of witchcraft at Waraseoni in Balaghat district.
Special Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) court justice Kavita Ivanati said in her order that the crime of the accused falls in the rarest of rare category. Only death penalty is appropriate for his actions, said Kapil Kumar Dehariya, district public prosecution officer (DPPO).
On April 4, 2022, the dead bodies of the two sisters, aged 3 and 5 years, respectively, were found from the Rajiv Gandhi Sagar Canal located in a village. In the postmortem report, it was found that the elder one was raped before the murder.
“The girls’ father informed the police that he had gone to visit a relative’s house and his wife had gone to collect minor forest produce. When they returned home, their daughters were missing. The neighbours informed that his brother-in-law Dhanpal Sonwane, 42, had taken the girls with them on a motorcycle,” said the DPPO.
Police arrested the accused and he confessed to the crime. He said he had suspected the parents of the girls performing witchcraft. He took the girls near a canal where he killed one by hitting with a stone while raped the other and strangulated her to death.
Based on the evidence and witnesses presented during the case’s hearing, the court has found the accused guilty and sentenced him to death, said the DPPO.