A court in Mayurbhanj district on Wednesday awarded capital punishment to a youth, who was accused in the case of rape and murder of a minor girl in 2018.
Based on the deposition by 27 witnesses, the Baripada ADJ Court pronounced death sentence for the accused Jaminikant Mohanta, a resident of Garudabasa village under the Betanati police station of the district. Mohanta was the accused of raping an eight-year-old tribal girl and brutally killing her on June 18, 2018.
The horrific incident had taken place during Raja when the entire village was celebrating the festival with fanfare.
While the girl was learning to ride a bicycle, the youth took her to a nearby
forest on the pretext of teaching her to ride a bicycle, raped her and then stoned her to death. As the victim did not return home, her family members searched for her. Based on the statements of some villagers, who had seen the accused taking the girl to the forest, the family along with locals questioned him to know whereabouts of the victim. As he refused to reveal anything, they thrashed him and informed police.
Following a complaint by the family, police initiated a probe into the incident and recovered the victim’s body from the forest. Later, police arrested the accused and forwarded him to the court.