STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. GUDDUKUMAR MADHESH YADAV

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Criminal Confirmation Case No.2 of 2021 is filed seeking confirmation of the death sentence awarded to the accused by the judgment and order dtd. 07/12/2021 passed in Special (POCSO) Case No. 278 of 2021 by learned Special Judge ( POCSO), Surat. The accused has been convicted and sentenced as under:

(2.) The convict has also preferred Criminal Appeal No.1690 of 2023 against said judgment and order of conviction and sentence and therefore, the Criminal Confirmation Case and the said appeal of the convict is heard and decided together by this common judgment.

(3.) The complainant in the present case has been residing along with his family for the last four years in a rented room situated on the ground floor of a building located at Bhagwati Nagar Society, Plot Nos. 34 and 35. As the accused was also residing for the last one year in a rented room situated on the third floor of the same building along with his friend/coaccused Pankaj Pitambar Yadav, he was acquainted with the victim - deceased child and was aware that she was a minor and the daughter of the complainant. On 4/11/2021, at around 8:30 p.m., when the victim was playing near her house in front of Bhagwati Nagar Society, Plot No. 63, the accused, with the intention of committing a wrongful act and having sexual intercourse, enticed and allured the victim on the pretext of giving her chocolate, abducted her, and took her to an open place with bushes situated behind Pandesara GIDC, Armo (Synthetics) Dyeing Mill, where he removed the jeans pant and underwear worn by her and committed rape upon her. As the victim could not bear the pain and started crying, the accused pressed her mouth and nose with his hands, and despite having knowledge that by doing so the victim would die, with the intention of causing her death, he continued to press her mouth and nose, thereby strangulating her and caused her death. Further, despite knowing that the victim was a minor, he committed penetrative sexual assault and aggravated penetrative sexual assault upon her, causing her death. During investigation, on the basis of video footage of the CCTV camera installed outside a shop named Patel Repairing and Electronics, in which the accused is seen taking the victim child, investigation was carried out, and on the basis of eye-witnesses, electronic evidence, and the articles recovered from the accused, the involvement of the accused was established, whereupon the accused was arrested.