Teen gets death sentence for raping minor, killing her and siblings in Jalgaon

JALGAON:A special court in Jalgaon district, Maharashtra, has ordered the death sentence for a 19-year-old man found guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl and subsequently killing her along with her three minor siblings.The court noted the crime was "premeditated and exceptionally cruel."The court held that the conduct of 19-year-old Sitaram Barela was "unpardonable and it warrants the death penalty."Judge SR Yadav of the Special POCSO Court (Bhusawal) placed the case in the "rarest of rare" category, saying it had shaken both judicial and societal conscience, news agency PTI reported."The accused has wiped out four minor children in a premeditated and cold-blooded, exceptionally cruel and diabolic manner. One of them raped by him," the special judge stated.Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said that there were no direct eyewitnesses in this case and that the case rested on circumstantial evidence. He added, however, that the prosecution had managed to establish an unbroken chain of circumstantial events.The crime took place on October 15, 2020, at a farmhouse in Raver, Jalgaon. The four victims, including two girls and two boys between the ages of 8 and 13 were left alone at home while their parents had travelled to Madhya Pradesh to attend a relative's funeral, PTI reported.According to the prosecution, Barela, who had spent the night at the house, raped the 13-year-old girl. Upon facing resistance, he resorted to an axe to kill her and her three siblings, leaving severe wounds on their necks and heads.The following morning, the farm owner visited the house and discovered all four children lying in a pool of blood, bringing the crime to light.The prosecution examined 28 witnesses, including the farm owner and the victims' father. A key piece of evidence securing the conviction was the DNA match between Barela's blood sample and samples collected during the medical examination of the 13-year-old victim.The prosecution also cited extra-judicial confessions, as Barela had phoned his father and uncle shortly after the crime and admitted to both the rape and the four killings.The court convicted Barela under Sections 302 (murder) and 376(3) (rape of a woman under 16 years of age) of the Indian Penal Code, along with applicable provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.Arguing for capital punishment, Nikam told the court that the crime represented the highest degree of brutality. He further pointed out that Barela exhibited no remorse after the killings and had instead boasted about the murders to his father and uncle.The court observed that given the accused's conduct, he posed a continuing threat to society and could endanger the lives of witnesses who had testified against him. It maintained that extending unwarranted sympathy to the accused at the cost of witness safety was not an option.(With agency inputs)