JOIN USGujarat: Man who raped three minor girls in 10 days, killed one of them gets death penalty
A special court in Kalol in Gujarat's Gandhinagar on Thursday sentenced a man to death for raping a 5-year-old girl in November 2021. Special judge AA Nanavati, hearing cases under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, sentenced 28-year-old Vijay Thakor to death for raping a minor girl after abducting her on his motorcycle on November 4, 2021.
During past hearings, the prosecution had told court Thakor deserved capital punishment because he had raped three minor girls, aged 3, 5 and 10 years, respectively, in a span of 10 days and killed one of them. "He was already sentenced to life in jail till death by the Gandhinagar POCSO court in 2021 for raping and killing a 3-year-old girl. He was given a similar sentence for raping a 10-year-old girl," said public prosecutor Sunil Pandya.
Pandya told court the 5-year-old was raped so brutally that her internal organs had ruptured and that she may not be able to become a mother in future due to these injuries. Thakor, a resident of Kalol taluka of Gandhinagar, had committed these crimes despite being the father of a minor child and at a time when his wife was pregnant, said Pandya.
In November 2021, Santej police in Gandhinagar district had received a complaint from a woman labourer living near Rancharda village alleging that an unidentified man abducted her five-year-old daughter on November 4 and left her at a secluded place on the same day after raping her. Two days later, Santej police received another complaint of a 3-year-old girl being abducted on the night of November 5 from a makeshift shanty near Khatraj crossroads.
After scanning CCTV footages and collecting information from locals, police arrested Thakor, a casual labourer from Vansjada village in Kalol taluka. He confessed to raping three girls in a span of 10 days and strangling one of them.