A lorry cleaner was sentenced to death of rape, murder of a 5-year-old (Representational)
A local court in Andhra Pradesh on Monday sentenced a lorry cleaner to death under the POCSO Act, holding him guilty of rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in November last year.
State Home Minister M Sucharita called the verdict "historic".
The judge awarded the death penalty to Pathan Mohammad Rafi, who worked as a lorry cleaner.
The DGP's office said in a release that the crime occurred on November 7 last year when the accused lured the victim in a marriage party and raped her inside the women's restroom.
Her body was found the next day outside the marriage hall.
Rafi was arrested within nine days of the crime.
Based on the post-mortem report and the forensic evidence, police filed a charge-sheet on December 10 and arguments in the case were heard for five days in February.