A Varanasi court sentenced one Mohammad Irshad to death on Tuesday (18th November) in the case of a brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl. The special judge, Vinod Kumar, pronounced the verdict after conducting the trial and slammed the death penalty along with a fine of ₹60,000 against the convict.
The court ordered that the entire amount of fine shall be given as compensation to the father of the victim. The case gained significance when it delivered justice in just 11 months; the accused was convicted and sentenced within this period.
"ऑपरेशन कन्विक्शन" के तहत अभियुक्त इरशाद को दुष्कर्म, हत्या एवं पाक्सो एक्ट से सम्बन्धित प्रकरण में मा0 न्यायालय विशेष न्यायाधीश पाक्सो-III वाराणसी द्वारा मृत्युदण्ड एवं 60,000/- रुपये के अर्थदण्ड से दण्डित किया गया । #OperationConviction #ProsecutionSuccess #UPPolice pic.twitter.com/mIuMC86LWe
— DCP Kashi (@VnsDcp) November 18, 2025
The horrifying incident took place on 24th December, 2024, when the girl had gone to a nearby shop in her locality to buy some items and never returned home. Her family began searching for her, but there was no clue about her whereabouts.
Locals found the body of the girl dumped inside a sack at a government school in the area the next morning on 25th December. The body showed signs of severe trauma; it had a mutilation of the head, and injuries inflicted by a heavy stone were used to conceal the identity.
According to police officials, Mohammad Irshad had waited for the girl to return with the items she had purchased. Later, he forcibly took her to a secluded spot and raped her there. After the brutal crime, he killed her for fear of being exposed. After killing her, he took the body to the school, crushed her head with a stone, and abandoned it there.
FIR and investigation details
The victim’s father filed an FIR at Ramnagar Police Station in Varanasi on 25th December, 2024, reporting his daughter missing. The FIR was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, specifically sections 103(1), 238, 659(2), 137(2) of IPC, and sections 5(D)/6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
CCTV footage from a nearby camera showed Irshad entering his house with the girl and leaving after some time carrying a sack. When police raided his home, he fled. He was later arrested in a police encounter on 26th December last year, during which he fired at the police and was shot in the leg. Postmortem confirmed the sexual assault. Seven prosecution witnesses, including the victim’s father, police officers, and the medical examiner, were presented during the trial.
The prosecution argued strongly for the harshest punishment given the cruelty of the crime. The court condemned Irshad’s “brutal nature” and the suffering inflicted on the victim, describing him as a danger to society. The sentence includes both the death penalty and a significant fine as compensation for the victim’s family.
