Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh), October 20: A local court in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to an accused for raping and murdering a one-year-old girl in Badalpur area.

The district and sessions court in Greater Noida’s Surajpur sentenced a 28-year old man to life imprisonment for raping and murdering a one-year-old girl in Badalpur on February 22, 2017. The court also imposed a fine of Rs.50,000 on the convict - identified as Vijay alias Bijju - who is a resident of a village in Badalpur area.

Dinesh Kumar, station house officer, Badalpur police station, said Vijay, who lived in the neighbourhood of the victim, frequently visited her house. On the day of crime, Vijay again visited the victim’s house in the afternoon and found that she was playing outside the house. He took her out on the pretext of buying her some goodies.

“The man took her to an isolated place, raped her, killed her, and then threw her body in a small pit,” Kumar said.

Family members of the child launched a search operation, but failed to trace the victim. Later, some children informed them that they had seen Vijay going to a nearby field with the girl in the afternoon.

The victim’s family informed the police, and a case was registered against Vijay under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 376 (rape), Section 302 (murder) at the Badalpur police station in 2017, and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act sections 5 and 6.

The police official said that Vijay was arrested the next day after he committed the crime and was sent to judicial custody. “Police had filed a charge-sheet in this case within a month,” he added.

Vrinda Shukla, the deputy commissioner of police (women safety), Gautam Budh Nagar, said on Tuesday, “So satisfied that the culprit of such a heinous crime against a young victim has been suitably punished,”

She also said that Noida police has been pursuing all women-related cases in the court seriously, leading to convictions. A total of 70 persons have been convicted in women-related cases since November 2020, she said.