Jharkhand: Man gets death for 7-year-old’s rape, murder

A Giridih court sentenced a 47-year-old man to death for raping and murdering a seven-year-girl.

The rape and murder took place in Badidih in May 2011, when the girl was out with her grandfather in Behara, grazing their cattle. The convict, Mathura Yadav, volunteered to take the girl to get mangos.

However, when her grandfather was out of sight, Mathura took her to a pump house and raped her. When he saw the seven-year-old bleeding and crying, he hacked her to death with an axe. Both the body and the axe were buried in a bush.

When the girl did not return home, the grandfather questioned Mathura but he refused to talk. Ganwa police recovered her body and the weapon the next day.

Additional sessions judge Sunil Kumar also sentenced the convict’s father, Bhikhari Yadav, to two years’ rigorous imprisonment for helping his son hide the body and tampering with evidence, said assistant public prosecutor Mahendra Deo.

Deo said 14 witnesses were examined by the court, which found Mathura guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including rape and murder.