A man living on the sidewalk in Mumbai has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court for sexually abusing and murdering a five-year-old girl in Mahim in February 2019. The child and her family shared the same street as their home.
The homeless man was convicted by the special court on several charges, like murder and rape under the Indian Penal Code, along with relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).
The victim's father reported that on February 6, 2019, he woke up at 5 am to find his daughter missing. The family had been sleeping on the sidewalk in Mahim. After an unsuccessful search, they filed a missing person's complaint. The father also mentioned a previous incident where the girl had disappeared earlier in Pune. However, she was later found at an orphanage.
The day after she went missing in Mahim, a young girl was found unresponsive behind a furniture business. The police were alerted, and upon arrival, they took the girl to Sion Hospital. There, she was pronounced dead. The postmortem report said that the girl had been sexually assaulted. She also suffered from 13 injuries and was strangled to death.
During the investigation, a man was seen on CCTV footage carrying the girl. This man had also been pretending to be an innocent bystander, asking questions about the incident until the footage was reviewed. The footage was used as evidence for the prosecution.
The special judge stated that the CCTV footage was strong evidence indicating the presence of the accused taking the victim away. The judge found the man guilty of killing and sexually assaulting the young girl. The court noted that the creation of CCTV footage has become crucial in proving guilt based on the last-seen theory.
The accused failed to provide a reasonable defence against the proof used against him by the prosecution. The court stated that the defendant had to explain. But since he didn't, a conviction could be based on such information. The court's decision was based on the evidence presented, leading to the life sentence of the accused.
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