POCSO Court in Hoshiarpur Awards Death Penalty to UP Man for Rape, Murder of Minor Boy

A special POCSO court in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district has sentenced Nanke Yadav, a native of Uttar Pradesh, to death for the abduction, sexual assault and murder of a five-year-old boy, holding that the crime fell within the "rarest of rare" category.

Judge Manpreet Kaur pronounced the sentence, which will require confirmation from the Punjab and Haryana High Court before it can be carried out.

The case dates back to September 9, 2023, when the child was allegedly abducted while playing outside his house in New Deep Nagar. His body was recovered the following day from a cremation ground in Purhiran.

The prosecution presented evidence before the court, following which Yadav was convicted under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 6 of the POCSO Act.

The sentence was pronounced a day before the statutory deadline under Section 35 of the POCSO Act, which requires special courts to endeavour to complete trials within a year of taking cognisance of a case.

The crime had triggered widespread outrage in Hoshiarpur, with the child's family and local residents demanding the harshest punishment for the accused. The verdict marks a significant judicial milestone for the victim's family, which had been awaiting justice since the child's murder.

The case also sparked protests and controversy over the presence of migrant workers in the area, with several panchayats subsequently passing resolutions concerning migrant settlements. Those developments, however, were separate from the court's determination of the accused's criminal liability in this case.