Indian court sentences uncle to death over niece’s rape-murder
SingTao · 1 SOURCES1 day ago2 MIN
Summary
A special POCSO court in Durg district, Chhattisgarh, sentenced 24-year-old Somesh Yadav to death after convicting him of sexually assaulting and murdering his six-year-old niece in a case dating to April 6, 2025. The court said the crime qualified as a “rarest of rare” case, citing the brutality of the attack and the fact that the accused was the child’s paternal uncle, a person she should have been able to trust. Prosecutors said Yadav tried to destroy biological evidence by pouring toilet cleaner on the girl’s genital area and then hid her in a neighbour’s locked car to divert suspicion. The court also ordered compensation of 700,000 Indian rupees for the child’s family
Key Points
- The crime took place on April 6, 2025, during the Hindu festival Ram Navami, after the girl visited her grandmother’s home in Durg district for a Kanya Bhoj ritual
- When the child did not return home that afternoon, her family searched for her and later filed a report at Mohan Nagar police station
- She was found that night lying inside a locked car in a nearby open area and was declared dead after being taken to hospital
- Investigators said Yadav lured the girl to the rooftop of her grandmother’s house, assaulted and killed her, then attempted to clean the scene and erase evidence
- Police said DNA testing, CCTV footage, mobile phone signal records and scene reconstruction formed the evidential chain that led to Yadav’s conviction
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong readers, the case underlines how child sexual violence can occur within families, not only from strangers, and why evidence preservation and rapid forensic work are central to prosecution. It also shows how courts may weigh betrayal of trust and attempts to destroy evidence when deciding the harshest available sentence in crimes against children