Court awards life imprisonment to man for murdering girl

A man was today sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a 21-year-old girl, who was attacked with a knife and an iron pipe, by a Delhi court which refrained from giving any finding on the charge of sexual assault against him.
The court said the medical report suggested that the victim was subjected to sexual intercourse before her death but the vaginal swab containing semen could not be connected with the accused as he could not give his semen sample for matching.
It also refused to award death penalty to Bihar native Shivji Singh saying though he was involved in five other similar cases, he has not been convicted in any other matter so far. The case does not fall in the category of rarest of rare, the court said.

"After holding as above that there is sufficient evidence on record to conclude that the accused was involved in the commission of offence, it would be imperative to pen down certain aspects which remained inconclusive.
"Postmortem report says that the deceased had a fissure on her anal region. The vaginal swab of the prosecutrix was found containing semen. The semen, however, could not be connected with the accused as he could not give his semen despite efforts.
"The doctor concerned, however, has not categorically stated that he was incapable of having sexual intercourse," Additional Sessions Judge Anuradha Shukla Bhardwaj said.

"In view of above, no finding can be given by the court on whether or not the deceased was sexually assaulted by Singh before being murdered," the judge added.

Singh was held guilty for the murder of the girl, who was residing with the convict's nephew in the same house, and was sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Singh.
According to the police, the girl was found murdered in her Pandav Nagar house in October, 2009. When the police team reached the spot, the door of the flat was closed from inside.

After some time, Singh opened the door and the girl was found murdered with several injuries on her head and neck, it said, adding that Singh led the police to the weapons which he had used during the commission of the crime.