MEERUT, Nov. 1 -- A Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur district on Friday sentenced a 32-year-old man to death for raping a seven-year girl and killing her five-year-old sister in February 2021, while terming the crime "planned, extremely heinous and cruel" and falling in the "rarest of rare" category.

The court of additional district judge/ special judge (POCSO Act) Manoj Kumar Sidhu also imposed a fine of Rs.1,37,500 on the convict Anil alias Chameli and ordered that he be hanged till death. The court observed that failure to award capital punishment in this case would send a "wrong message to society" and raise "question marks over the judicial process".

On February 22, 2021,...