PUDUCHERRY: Over two years after a nine-year-old girl was kidnapped, gangraped and murdered, a special court in Puducherry sentenced a 21-year-old man to death on Friday.The special judge for Pocso Act cases, MD Sumathi, found M Karnas alias Kaka guilty under several stringent charges, including murder, gang rape of a child under 12 years and under relevant Sections of the Pocso Act and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. She also directed the government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the girl’s family. Another accused, G Vivekanandhan alias Harikrishnan, 59, died by suicide in the central prison, and charges against him abated.The judge accepted the special public prosecutor S Patcheappan’s argument that the crime falls within the ambit of rarest of the rare cases. “…there is beastly behavior of the accused which is established based on the findings of the post-mortem report. This beastly behavior of the accused is against nature and human conduct, and the case falls within the ambit of rarest of rare cases,” Patcheappan argued.The SPP said the crime was committed in a very brutal manner, wherein the victim was tortured before death. “The motive for this crime is the perverted and predatory nature of the accused. This crime was committed against a victim who hails from an economically weaker family, and this crime has created fear among the entire society about the safety of children belonging to such backgrounds. The crime is massive in proportion, wherein this crime invoked the collective conscience of the entire society. The victim of murder in this case was an innocent child who was murdered only on the account of the accused person’s lust,” he said, pleading with the court that a crime of such a nature deserves capital punishment.The accused people’s lack of remorse was indicated by the calmness with which they consumed liquor in the scene of the crime after committing gang rape while the girl was unconscious. “Two days after the murder, this accused (Karnas) had gone to Chennai with his friend (PW16 Jawahar) and consumed ganja without any remorse for the gruesome murder,” he said.According to the prosecution, Karnas kidnapped the girl when she was playing near her house and took her to Vivekanandhan’s room on March 2, 2024. He subjected her to aggravated penetrative sexual assault. Meanwhile, Vivekanandhan, who arrived there, took advantage of the situation, threatened the victim, and also subjected her to aggravated penetrative sexual assault. The girl suffered severe injuries and fell unconscious. She regained consciousness and screamed in pain. Immediately, both the accused, to suppress their crime, murdered her by smothering her. They then hog-tied her with a coconut coir rope, wrapped her in a dhoti, and disposed of the bundled corpse by throwing it into the drainage canal behind Vivekanandhan’s house, believing that it would be washed away to the sea.On the same day, the girl’s parents lodged a complaint with the Muthialpet police. Police discovered her body floating in the drainage canal behind Vivekanandhan’s house on March 5. Police arrested Karnas and Vivekanandhan. Both the accused confessed to the crime. Police produced them before a local court, which remanded them in judicial custody.
