A West Bengal court on Friday sentenced one person to death and awarded life imprisonment to another in the rape and murder of a minor girl and necrophilia in October. The verdict by the Murshidabad court came within 61 days of the crime, which many view as an instance of speedy justice.

This is the second instance of a death sentence in West Bengal within eight days, as another court in Baruipur announced the death sentence for the sole accused, Mustakin Sardar, for raping and killing a minor girl in South 24 Parganas.

The Murshidabad district court sentenced the prime accused, Dinabandhu Halder, to death and another co-accused, Subho Halder, to life imprisonment in the case of the gang rape and murder of a 9-year-old minor girl in Farakka.

Both accused were found guilty by the court on Thursday. The court convicted the two arrested accused under the Pocso Act for rape and under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for kidnapping and murder.

Judge Amitava Mukherjee sentenced Dinabandhu Halder to hang till death for kidnapping, raping, and killing the minor, and Subho Halder to life imprisonment till death for rape and seven years imprisonment for destroying evidence.

The court also directed a compensation of Rs. 10 lakh to the victim’s family.

Special public prosecutor in this case, Bivas Chatterjee, welcomed the verdict, calling it a historic judgment.

“It was a challenge for me to complete both cases in Jaynagar and Murshidabad simultaneously. Finally, after huge efforts, justice prevails, and the people will have full confidence and faith in the administration and government whom I am representing after this historic judgment,” he told India Today.

The nine-year-old girl was sexually assaulted and murdered while she was visiting her grandfather’s house in Farakka during the last Durga Puja. The victim suddenly disappeared while playing in front of her grandfather’s house on the morning of October 13. Hours later, her body was recovered from the house of neighbouring fish trader Dinabandhu Halder.

An angry mob had beaten up Dinabandhu Halder, and after being under treatment in the hospital for two days, West Bengal police arrested him. During the interrogation, the involvement of Subho Halder also surfaced, and he was arrested later.

A special investigation team was formed under the leadership of IPS Anand Roy, the Superintendent of Police of Jangipur police district. After 21 days, Bengal police filed the charge sheet before the trial court at Jangipur. The charge sheet requested the maximum punishment for the two accused involved in this murder case.