Engineer Sentenced to Death for Raping and Killing 7-Year-Old Hasini in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: The main accused in the rape-murder of 7-year-old Hasini, Dhasvanth, was held guilty and sentenced to death by the Mahila Court in Chengalpet on Monday. The convict had burnt the body of the minor victim after raping her last year in Tamil Nadu.

Special Judge P Velumurugan held Dhasvanth guilty under IPC Sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping and abduction), 354-b (assault or use of criminal force on woman with intent to disrobe), 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and different sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POSCO) Act.

Hasini's father, Rajesh, welcomed the verdict. He said, “Justice has prevailed.”

"I know my daughter will not come back but I will thank the judiciary for delivering this judgment. I hope no one does anything like this ever again. In the past one year, I haven't been able to sleep. I fought to ensure that the accused gets the right punishment. I'm happy now."

The court pronounced its verdict on Monday after examining 30 witnesses, 45 documents and 19 pieces of evidence in the case that saw several twists and turns in the course of a year while the most startling one being Dhasvanth killing his own mother after being released on bail.

In February 2017, 7-year-old Hasini went missing and police nabbed Dhasvanth who was a resident of the same apartment complex as her. However, he managed to escape as the police couldn’t file its chargesheet event after 90 days and he managed to get a statutory bail.

The case continued and trial began only in October 2017 after an eight month delay. Two months later, Dhasvanth's mother, Sarala, was found dead at her residence in Chennai. Later, it was found that her valuables were missing and Dhasvanth was absconding.

Police knew he was fond of betting on horse races and they finally managed to arrest him four days later. However, the 23-year-old techie managed to escape police custody yet again on December 7 and was re-arrested the next day and brought to Tamil Nadu. The accused reportedly confessed to killing his mother.

Kannan, Assistant Commissioner, Porur told reporters, “It was a challenging case and I welcome the judgement. I hope this will act as a deterrent for others. Next week, we will also file a chargesheet against Dhasavnath for murdering his mother."

Meanwhile, Dhashvnath's lawyer Rajkumar said he will go for an appeal against the judgment.