Nearly two months after the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl in Nasirpur village of Pune district sent shockwaves across Maharashtra, a special court in Pune on Monday awarded death sentence to a 65-year-old man.
Additional Magistrate (Special Judge) SR Salunkhe passed the death sentence. The judge, who classified the case as “the rarest of rare cases”, made it clear that the brutality of the crime left no room for leniency, news agency PTI reported.
A pattern of “total corruption”
The accident occurred on May 1. Defendant Campbell lured a three-year-old child with the promise of snacks and the excitement of seeing a newborn calf.
Read also | The 65-year-old was convicted of the rape and murder of a child in Nasrpur
He led her to a secluded cabin near a livestock pen, where he subjected her to sexual and unnatural assault. To cover his tracks, he killed her by gagging her mouth and causing serious injuries to her chest.
Judge Salunkhe noted that the evidence established aggravating circumstances, noting that Campbell had a “significant history of serious assaults,” including previous offenses involving a 62-year-old woman, a 17-year-old girl, and an animal.
Read also | The Nasrapur case is among the fastest POCSO convictions in Maharashtra
“The crime was committed in a heinous manner and involved inhumane treatment and torture of the victim,” the judge said. “The murder was committed to satisfy lust that indicates complete debauchery. It was a cold-blooded murder without any provocation.”
Why did age offer no mercy?
During the trial, the defense asked for a reduced sentence, citing Campbell’s advanced age of 65 and his denial of the crime as reasons for mitigation. But the court rejected this reasoning out of hand, choosing instead to look at his age as a reason for a tougher stance.
“The accused’s thirst for lust does not quench even at his age. In fact, it has reached a very dangerous stage,” Justice Salunkhe observed, according to PTI. He also pointed out that the injuries inflicted on the three-year-old child’s body reflect “inhuman behavior,” noting that Campbell acted “without fear, with extreme violence, and without caring about the consequences, because he had previous experience that even if he was tried, nothing would happen in court.”
Ruling on the collective conscience
This case moved through the legal system remarkably quickly, leading to a conviction on June 25 – less than two months after the crime occurred.
The prosecution successfully argued that Campbell was “beyond reform.” Their position was validated by the court’s observation that such crimes continue to haunt the nation despite the introduction of stricter laws and special courts in the wake of the Nirbhaya case.
In his concluding remarks, Justice Salunkhe noted that the sheer brutality of this act “shocks not only the judicial conscience, but even the conscience of society.”
(with PTI inputs)
