Chandigarh, June 3 -- Around 16 months after the horrific rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl shocked the city, a special POCSO court has convicted an Uttar Pradesh native, a painter by profession, for the gruesome crime. The court of additional sessions judge Yashika convicted 40-year-old Hira Lal, currently a resident of Hallomajra, under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on Wednesday. Court sources said the prosecution will plead for a stringent punishment for the accused. The child's body, with the throat slit and multiple stab wounds, was discovered near a dumping site in Ram Darbar on January 22, 2024, three days after she went missing on January 19. The autopsy had confirmed rape. During the trial, the prosecution stated that the girl was abducted from near her residence by the accused, who then took her to his accommodation and committed the crime. After the body was found, police identified the accused with the help of CCTV footage which showed him carrying a handbag. His house was raided and found locked. His rented room had been locked since January 19, the same day the child went missing. Police broke the locks and found the slippers of the victim in the house that confirmed that the child was brought there. A chase spanning three states, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, ensued and finally, on the seventh day, police managed to trace him to Nawada, Arrah, in Bihar. The accused was subsequently found to have two wives and five children, the eldest being a 13-year-old daughter. According to police, he was cheating on both his wives, as none of them knew about each other....