INDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE, MURDER OF TWO-YEAR-OLD GIRL

A court in Gujarat’s Surat city on August 2, 2023 awarded death sentence to a 23-year-old man for the rape and murder of a two-year-old girl in February.
Additional sessions judge Shakuntala Solanki handed down the capital punishment to accused Yusuf Ismail and also asked the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of the victim.
Ismail was found guilty under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder) and 376 (rape), and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The prosecution had sought death penalty for the accused, claiming that it was a `rarest of rare’ case
The incident took place at Kapletha village near Sachin industrial area of Surat.
Ismail was a friend of the victim’s father.
On February 27, Ismail took the girl to a nearby shop, saying he would buy her some snacks. He raped the child and killed her using a knife.
He then fled from the spot dumping the body in an open field but was nabbed by police the next day.