West Bengal Man Sentenced to Death in 'Rarest of Rare' Case Involving Rape and Murder of Minor

A man in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district has been sentenced to death by a special POCSO court for the rape and murder of a minor girl. The court designated the case as 'rarest of rare,' noting the victim's age was similar to the accused's daughter. The convict, Haripada Roy, received the death penalty for the heinous crime. The court has also ordered the district legal services authority to provide Rs 5 lakh in compensation to the victim's family. The 11-year-old girl was abducted from her home and subsequently raped and murdered on September 29, 2023. Her body was later discovered near a river, and a postmortem confirmed rape and strangulation. Separately, the Supreme Court granted bail to a man in Uttarakhand accused of religious conversion and cheating, citing that the marriage occurred with parental consent.