Kolkata:
A Murshidabad court on Friday sentenced to death one person and awarded life imprisonment to another in the rape and murder of a minor girl and necrophilia in West Bengal’s Farakka in October.
The sentence comes on the 61st day of the crime, and the investigation was completed and chargesheet submitted by the police in 21 days.
The additional sessions judge, Jangipur court, sentenced Dinabandhu Halder to death and Subhojit Halder to life term.
The court had on Thursday declared Dinabandhu guilty of rape and murder, and Subhojit of assisting him in the crime.
Following the pronouncement of the sentence on Friday, Additional Director General (ADG), West Bengal Police, Supratim Sarkar said that Dinabandhu had lured the girl, offering her flowers on Vijaya Dashami on October 13 at Farakka in Murshidabad district.
She was raped and murdered, and rape was committed on her dead body again thereafter, which is termed necrophilia, by Dinabandhu and he was assisted in the crime by Subhojit, the officer told reporters.
Mr Sarkar said that a special investigation team was formed to probe the case and following the arrest of the two persons, the chargesheet was submitted within 21 days.
Hailing the sentence, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that every rapist deserves capital punishment.
“I have said this before, and I will say it again: Every rapist deserves nothing less than the harshest punishment — capital punishment.
“As a society, we must unite to eradicate this heinous social malice. I believe that swift, time-bound trials and punishments will serve as a powerful deterrent, sending a clear message that such crimes will not be tolerated,” she said in a post on X.
Congratulating the state police and those involved in the prosecution process, the CM said “my thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim”.
The sentence in the Farakka crime comes barely a week after another death sentence awarded to a man for the rape and murder of a 10-year old girl at Joynagar in South 24 Parganas district.
The death sentence to Mostakin Sardar on December 6 was awarded by a sessions court on the 62nd day after the body of the girl was discovered on October 4.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)