60-year-old sentenced to life imprisonment for luring and murdering minor girl

A minor girl was lured from a wedding in Joypur, taken to a nearby jungle, and murdered. The Cachar District and Sessions Court found a 60-year-old man guilty in the case and sentenced him to life imprisonment on Wednesday.

The victim, a 15-year-old girl, had gone with her family to attend a wedding in Dharampur, Joypur, on November 6, 2022. That night, she suddenly went missing from the venue. Her mother lodged a missing complaint at Joypur police station. During the investigation, police learned that the accused had lured her away around 7 PM by offering to buy her some items. He was arrested on November 8, 2022.

During interrogation, he confessed to taking the victim into a nearby forest, where he murdered her and hid the body to cover up the crime. Based on his confession, police recovered the body.

Following the discovery, the police filed a charge sheet against Islam Uddin, accusing him of rape and murder. Charges were framed under sections 376(3), 302, and 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with sections 4, 8, and 10 of the POCSO Act.

However, the post-mortem report revealed that the victim had been killed with a blow from a blunt object, but there was no evidence of sexual assault. As a result, the court dropped the rape-related charges and proceeded with the trial under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence).

On Wednesday (January 29), the court sentenced the accused to life imprisonment along with a fine of ₹10,000 under the murder charge. Failure to pay the fine would result in an additional three months of imprisonment. He was also sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹5,000 for hiding the evidence, with an additional one-month sentence in case of non-payment. Both sentences will run concurrently.