‘Barbaric act’: Karnataka HC upholds death penalty in minor’s 2021 rape-murder case

BENGALURU: Karnataka high court has confirmed death penalty for three men convicted of the gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Vamanjoor, near Mangaluru.A division bench comprising Justices H P Sandesh and Venkatesh Naik T upheld the 2024 verdict of a Mangaluru special court, dismissing the appeals filed by the convicts. The bench observed: “The accused persons, in a brutal manner, subjected the victim girl to continuous sexual acts one by one. This is nothing but a barbaric act.” The bench further noted that if a lesser sentence is imposed, it will convey a wrong message to society and the public at large, and this act of subjecting the minor girl to satisfy lust would be encouraged.The three convicts — Jayban Adivasi and Mukesh from Madhya Pradesh, and Manish Thirki from Jharkhand — were workers at a tiles factory in Perari, Vamanjoor.

The fourth accused, Seetha Ranthu Lohar Sirigenda, is still at large after jumping bail.The incident occurred on Nov 20, 2021. The victim, the daughter of fellow factory workers, was playing with her siblings when the accused lured her away with ‘chikkies’ (nutjaggery sweets) and money to buy chocolates. They took her to a defunct brick kiln that lacked CCTV surveillance.After gang-raping the child, the accused smothered and strangled her to death when she began to cry.

They subsequently hid her body in a drainage pipe.In their appeal, the accused argued that mere presence of CCTV footage was insufficient to establish their guilt. However, additional state public prosecutor Rashmi Jadhav contended that the circumstantial evidence and corroborated witness statements formed a complete chain of guilt.The court concluded that life imprisonment would be an inadequate sentence for a crime that “shocks the collective conscience” of society.“Such acts have to be curbed with iron hands,” the division bench further observed, directing the three convicts to be hanged till death.(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)