“Rarest of Rare Crime…”: Kolkata Court Gives Death Penalty to Man Accused in Tiljala Rape and Murder Case

The Alipore District and Session Court in Kolkata on Thursday awarded the death penalty to a man accused of kidnapping, raping and murdering a seven-year-old girl in Tiljala in 2023. The special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court labeled the case as one of the "rarest of rare" crimes. The incident took place in March 2023, leading to widespread protests in response to the horrific act. Following the crime, the accused, Alok Kumar Shaw, was arrested, with police alleging that he attempted to hide the body to dispose it off at night.

The public prosecutor informed the court on Thursday that the child's hands were bound and her mouth gagged during the attack. The body bore over 26 injuries, including a blow to the head with a hammer. “The child made desperate attempts to free herself and bit the accused in the hand. But she was overpowered… The child was brutally murdered,” said the public prosecutor.

The judge convicted Kumar of rape, murder, and offenses under the POCSO Act. "The victim was... not in a position to defend herself," remarked Judge Sudipto Bhattacharya of the special POCSO court. In his sentencing, Judge Bhattacharya condemned the crime as one of the “rarest of rare” cases, ultimately imposing the death penalty on the accused, Ashok Kumar. He emphasized that the victim was a minor and had no means to protect herself during the horrific act.

According to the autopsy report of the 7-year-old girl, her body had marks of injuries inflicted by a blunt weapon and strangulation marks. Following the arrest of the accused, the charge sheet was filed by the local police on June 16, 2023, with over 45 witnesses examined throughout the proceedings. In addition, the court ordered the West Bengal government to provide ₹10 lakh to the victim's family under the state's victim compensation scheme.

On March 26, 2023, a seven-year-old girl went missing in Kolkata’s Tiljala area after leaving home to fetch milk and take out the garbage. When she did not return for several hours, her concerned parents reported her disappearance at the Tiljala Police Station. The police launched a search operation and reviewed local CCTV footage, which revealed that the girl had returned to her building after completing her errands.

Following a thorough search of all the flats in the multi-storey building, authorities located her remains in one of the neighboring units. The child’s body was discovered in a gunny bag behind a cooking gas cylinder in a neighbor's apartment, just hours after she had left home. The accused had joined the neighborhood team trying to locate the girl until his flat was searched and the girl was discovered in a gunny bag.

As per reports, the accused had dragged the minor girl into his flat, tied her hands and gagged her before he sexually assaulted her. An officer revealed that the accused turned the radio up to a loud volume to prevent neighbors from hearing the girl’s cries. In the aftermath of the crime, violent protests erupted in Tiljala, with the unrest extending into nearby Park Circus. Demonstrators set cars ablaze, vandalized a police station, and brought traffic to a standstill, which also disrupted railway services in the area.​