Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
On February 27, 2024, a Special court in Mumbai found a transgender person guilty of raping and killing a three-month-old girl in 2021. The girl’s family had stated that they were unable to provide presents and payment for the blessing of the infant. As a result, the transgender person had been sentenced to death.
The court acquitted a co-accused who was also booked on the same accusations due to a lack of evidence but ruled the accused guilty on charges of rape, murder, kidnapping, and destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code, and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The calculated crime would “send a chill down the spine of every parent of a girl child, especially in a poor vicinity”, the court declared.
The infant was kidnapped on July 8, 2021, in the middle of the night. The incident did not have any eyewitnesses, however, the court based its decision on circumstantial evidence, which included the family’s testimony and the accounts of two neighbours who said they saw the accused at around two in the morning, carrying a “bundle” on his shoulder.
The child’s grandmother claims that on the day of the occurrence, the accused came to their house in search of presents for the infant, including a saree, a coconut, and Rs 1,100. The grandma stated that she was unable to provide any financial support because it was during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. She claimed that the accused threatened to do something “which will make his name big” within the next five to six days.
There are severe penetrative genital injuries on the baby’s body, who was completely defenceless; extreme brutality reflected in the act of the accused, according to Special POCSO Judge Aditee Uday Kadam. The court concluded the purpose of the crime was to terrorise the area and become well-known so that no one would dare to refuse gifts to him.
In arguments filed by special public prosecutor R V Tiwari, it is said that the newborn was put to sleep by her mother on July 8, 2021, at approximately 9.30 p.m. The family had left their front door open because it was hot in their poor neighbourhood. At one in the morning, the mother fed the infant. She discovered the infant was missing when she arose again at 3 AM. The family started searching the neighbourhood before contacting the police.
The family mentioned the accused’s name the following day in their supplemental statement, recounting the events of the day before, including the “threat.” When the accused was questioned by the police, they asserted that he showed them where the infant’s body was disposed of on the evening of July 9, 2021. According to the authorities, the girl was raped, according to medical evidence, and then abandoned in a marshy region where she drowned and perished in order to hide the evidence.
The court ruled that there is no basis for mercy because the case unquestionably falls into the “rarest of rare” category. The court explained that even her family had no history of animosity towards the accused and that he did not provoke them in the slightest to murder the life of a child or carry out such a horrific crime with her.