A Special POCSO Court in Nalgonda district, Telangana, has sentenced a 24-year-old man to death for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl, marking the conclusion of a decade-long trial.
The accused, M. Mukarram, a butcher with hearing and speech impairments, was found guilty under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). An interpreter was provided during the proceedings to ensure fair trial standards.
The crime occurred in April 2013, when Mukarram lured the girl to his home, sexually assaulted her, and then strangled her. He later disposed of the body in a drainage canal. Following a missing person report filed by the victim’s family, police recovered the body and arrested the accused.
In addition to the death sentence, the court imposed a fine of ₹1.10 lakh and ordered ₹10 lakh in compensation to the victim’s family. Judge Roja Ramani, in charge of the Special POCSO Court, delivered the verdict after reviewing extensive evidence presented by the police.
The victim’s family welcomed the judgment, praising the thoroughness of the investigation.
This case follows a similar ruling last year, when the Telangana High Court upheld the death sentence of a man convicted in the 2017 rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Narsingi, near Hyderabad.