Palwal: 26-yr-old MP man gets death sentence for raping, killing 6-yr-old girl

: A special fast track court in Palwal sentenced a 26-year-old man to death for raping and brutally murdering a six-year-old girl in 2021.

The accused, Anand Singh, is a migrant labourer from Damoh in Madhya Pradesh and was living at Marroli village in Palwal when he committed the heinous crime.

“He shall be hanged by neck till he is dead, subject to confirmation of the sentence by the Punjab and Haryana high court at Chandigarh. The convict has been informed that he can file an appeal before the high court within 30 days. The convict be confined in safe custody in district jail, Faridabad under warrants of conviction till the confirmation of the death sentence or further orders from high court. On the warrants, a note be mentioned that he shall be hanged by neck, till he is dead, only after confirmation by the high court,” reads the July 29 sentencing order of the special fast track court headed by additional sessions judge (ASJ), Prashant Rana.

ASJ Rana said the name, parentage and village etc. identification particulars of the victim, are not to be disclosed, reported or published, or made public in any manner, considering the dignity of the deceased victim, and also as mandated by law.

“The victim was around seven and was subjected to aggravated penetrative sexual assault and was murdered. Untold pain and suffering and mental trauma have been caused to the victim as well as her family members. The legal heirs of the victim deserve to be granted maximum compensation, as per the Victim Compensation Scheme, 2020. The victim is survived by her parents and three siblings,” the court said, granting ₹30 lakh to the dependents of the victim as final compensation.

‘Purpose of fast-track courts are lost if there is delay in DNA testing’

Emphasising on a sense of urgency in making DNA testing kits available for expeditious disposal of such cases, ASJ Rana said that the reports in around 1,500 pending cases pertaining to offences of rape and murder of women and child victims in Haryana are still awaited even after the purchase of the DNA PCR kits. Even after purchase of kits, the reports would be submitted in coming months.

“There is a 2–3-year delay (in cases of rape or murder of child victims) in receiving of the DNA reports. The average time to prepare a DNA report is 10-15 days but if the reports are delayed, a number of witnesses including the investigating officer, doctors and the FSL experts cannot be examined since the case properties are sent along with the DNA blood samples. Such delay is obstructing the justice delivery system and the purpose of setting up of fast track courts seems to be lost on account of this delay,” the judge said in his order.

‘Need to put in place safety measures for migrant children’

The ASJ said that another peculiar aspect which surfaced in the present case is that the parents of the victim were inter-state migrant labourers working at a brick-kiln. As per the e-Shram database, there are 28.83 crore workers in the unorganised sector. Out of the same 13.62 crore workers are males, whereas 15.21 crore workers are females.

“It can be safely presumed that there are crores of children, whose both the parents work as labourers. When the parents go out for labour work, these children are left alone at the temporary labour colony, primarily huts or temporary structures without any safe boundary walls and caretakers. These children are most vulnerable to the sexual offences, as happened in the present case,’’ the court said.

The court said that the concerned authorities must work out some modalities to ensure that there is a record of such children. There must be some registration of their mothers, along with the number of children left without any care, at the time of work. There must be some creche or playroom or any other safety arrangements for such children. The arrangements may be done by the government departments or the employers, the court said.

The ASJ also asked the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to seek data from various FSLs with regard to the pendency of DNA reports in POCSO cases, and prepare a database. It should also ensure that DNA kits are sufficiently available in all FSLs across the nation. The NCPCR needs to seek data from labour department with regard to the number of vulnerable children of labourers and prepare a database of the same, the court said.