Lucknow, Mar 16 (IANS): Special judge, POCSO court, Arvind Mishra has awarded death penalty to one Mohd Asif Khan, who was found guilty of raping and killing his five-year-old niece eight years ago.

Pronouncing the verdict, the judge said that the guilty be hanged till death.

The court, however, referred the matter to the High Court for confirmation of the capital punishment, which is a statutory requirement before execution of the sentence.

In his 83-page judgment, the judge observed that the manner in which the offence was committed, this case fell into the rarest of the rare category.

The case was based on circumstantial evidence and the prosecution succeeded to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

The incident was reported to the Hasanganj police on April 4, 2014, by the maternal grand-father of the victim girl.

It was alleged in the FIR that the girl was missing and this information was given on 100 number to the police.

From the evidence of witnesses, the court found that the girl was last seen with the accused Khan, having ice-cream.

On the night of the incident, the accused came with the girl's dead body in his hands before the family.

At that time, her hands were tied and nerves of both hands were severed. During the probe, the accused had confessed his crime to the police.

Later, a blood-stained knife and slippers were recovered.