Two brothers are sentenced to death for raping and burning a minor girl in Rajasthan

New Delhi:

Two men convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl in August last year – by burning her alive in a coal oven – have been sentenced to death by a special court in Bhilwara in Rajasthan.

The men – brothers identified as Kalu and Kanha Kaleblia – were found guilty on Saturday by a Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) court, which acquitted seven other accused.

Special public prosecutor Mahaveer Singh Kishnawat told reporters: “Kalu and Kanha have been given the death penalty.” On Saturday, after the court found the brothers guilty, Mr Kishnawat had said: “Kalu and Kanha were found guilty of gang-raping and killing the girl found guilty. However, seven people, including three women, who were accused of destroying evidence were acquitted.”

The barbaric crime took place on August 2 last year.

The young girl had taken her family’s herd of cattle to graze when she was sexually abused.

Subsequent forensic examination of the body suggested that she had been burned alive.

“The forensic examination report revealed that the girl was alive before she was burnt in the oven. She could have been unconscious but she was alive,” a senior police official said in September.