Sunday, June 28, 2009

State wants death for child rapist

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad,June 27: The state government has urged the Andhra Pradesh High Court to confirm the death sentence given to a person found guilty of raping and throttling to death a five-year-old girl. On May 2, the second additional sessions judge of Madanpalle had sentenced Goulla Appaiah of Chowdepalle village in Chittoor district to death for the rape and murder of Sarthika. The lower court referred the judgment to the High Court for confirmation. The convict also filed an appeal pleading his innocence.

A division bench comprising Justice D.S.R. Varma and Justice R. Kantha Rao heard the case and the public prosecutor, Mr C. Nageswar Rao, sought confirmation of the sentence in view of the public concern about growing child abuse cases, particularly crimes against girls. He also opposed the contention of the convict that he was not involved in the crime.

“There is a strong public demand that such criminals should be eliminated from society,” said Mr. Rao. “The conduct of the accused showed that there was no trace of repentance in the accused.”

To emphasise the cold-blooded approach of the convict, the prosecutor said that he had thrown the body of the girl on the banks of Yerrachervu in the village and had joined the family members of the victim in a search the next day. “He himself had shown the body of the girl to her family members but escaped from the village when they came to know of his involvement,” he said Mr Rao urged the judges to treat this as a rarest of the rare case.

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