Lucknow, Oct 1 (IANS): A POCSO court in Lucknow has awarded capital punishment to a man for brutally raping and murdering his five-month-old cousin.

Judge Arvind Mishra said that the convict be hanged till death after confirmation of the death penalty from the high court.

The judge, on Thursday, also imposed Rs 70,000 fine on the convict, identified as Prem Chandra a.k.a. Pappu Dixit, who is also the father of a child.

The judge said that the amount of fine be given to the father of the minor victim.

Earlier, the judge declined to grant any punishment less than death penalty to the convict. "The matter falls in rarest of the rare category, warranting nothing less than death sentence for the convict, who not only raped five-month-and-13 days-old baby girl but also committed her murder," observed the judge.

The judge also cited Nirbhaya and Hyderabad cases in his judgment and said that in those cases, the victim was major even then the culprits were sentenced to death.

However, in this case, the victim was a minor and also a close relative of the deceased and hence there is no room for mercy.

"Even animals would not do such an act as the convict did with the minor victim," observed the judge.

The judge also observed, "The manner in which the convict committed the offence, people would stop believing in any relation and this would destroy the social fabric."

The father of the minor deceased had lodged an FIR in the matter with the Madaion police station on February 17, 2020. He said that his daughter had gone along with her mother and others to attend a function nearby on the previous day.

The accused asked her mother to allow him to take the girl for some time. When he did not return for long her mother and others started searching for the daughter and the convict.

Later, the girl was found in a bush and the convict was seen running away from there. The girl had serious injuries on her private parts and all over her body. She was rushed to a hospital but could not be saved.