A district court in Satna has issued a 'death warrant' against a school teacher was found guilty of raping a four-year-old girl.
The trial court in Satna district has sentenced capital imprisonment to Mahendra Singh Gond (28) and sent the death warrant to the Central Jail in Jabalpur. The rape convict's death warrant has been received from the trial court and he (Gond) is in the process of challenging his death penalty in the Supreme Court.
The trial court sent the death warrant through an e-mail to the Central Jail and Gond's execution date has been fixed for March 2, 2019, he said. The convict has other remedies also as he can file a mercy petition before the President of India, a jail officer said.
The death warrant will be executed only after all the available legal remedies are exhausted. The Madhya Pradesh High Court had on January 25 confirmed the death sentence awarded by the trial court to Gond.
The trial court had convicted the school teacher on September 19, 2018.
According to the prosecution, Gond was convicted for raping a four-year-old girl at Parasmaniya village in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh. The trial court had sentenced Gond to death under the recently-introduced Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 376(a)(b) (raping a minor under 12 years of age).
Gond was also found guilty under IPC Section 363 (kidnapping), for which he was awarded seven years' rigorous imprisonment, besides being fined Rs 5,000, the officer said. The convict went to the girl's house on July 1, 2018 in an inebriated condition to meet her father.