Odisha court sentences five to death for gangrape and murder of minor

A local court in the Keonjhar district of Odisha awarded a death sentence for five persons on the charges of gangrape and murder of a minor girl three years ago.

Additional District and Sessions Judge, Champua, Jadumani Mishra, pronounced the death penalty for the five persons for gang raping and killing the 13-year-old girl in a forest near Belkundi village under Barbil police station jurisdiction on 1 August 2012.

The girl, a class 8th student in the Municiality High School at Barbil, was returning home from tuition when seven persons forcibly took her away to a nearby forest and gangraped her, the prosecution said. When the girl did not return, the family members and others carried out a search and her body bearing injury marks was found a little away from the village.

While five of the accused persons — Mata Munda, Mangal Purty, Jiten Munda, Biswanath and Harjit Singh – were arrested two others are still at large.