Ahmedabad, June 20: A sessions court today sentenced a person to death on charges of raping and murdering a minor girl. Delivering the judgement, Sessions Court Judge M D Shah ordered that the accused Surendrapal Shivbalakpal had committed a 'heinous offence" and that any mercy shown towards him would be an 'injustice to society".

The court also sentenced him to seven years' rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1000 under Section 363 (kidnapping) and life imprisonment with a fine of Rs 2,000 under Section 376 (rape) of IPC.

Public prosecutor P M Trivedi said that the accused had kidnapped a seven-year old girl on September 12, 2002 and raped her at an isolated spot.

He later strangulated the girl and dumped her body in a nearby pond.

Bureau Report