INDIA: MAN GETS DEATH FOR RAPE AND MURDER OF GIRL

the District Sessions court sentenced a man to death for raping and murdering a four-year-old girl. Passing the verdict, judge P Jagannatha Rao said what the convict, Battula Seshaiah, had done was heinous and deserved the severest punishment. Seshaiah (28), a vagabond, raped the girl, Geeta, and later smothered her to death in a tank at Dharmapuri of Vizianagaram rural mandal on February 25, 2008. The victim's genitals were mutilated before she was killed. A neighbour recalled seeing Seshaiah taking the girl to an isolated place on that fateful day. "When the girl did not return, the worried parents raised an alarm," the girl's neighbour said. Seshaiah confessed to the crime and the judge was fully satisfied with the prosecution's arguments. This is only the second death sentence in the district. A teacher was sentenced to capital punishment for killing his wife 15 years ago.