Two Pedophiles Who Brutally Tortured 8-Year-Old, Sentenced to Hang
Child rapists pre-planned attack, mutilated girl to cover crime, sentenced to death
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Two pedophiles who brutally tortured, raped, mutilated, and attempted to kill and 8-year-old child, have been sentenced to death for their crimes in India.
The pair of child rapist slit the throat of the young girl and left her for dead after the horrific attack.
Asif Mewati, 24, and Irfan Mewati, 20, abducted the child as she waited for her father outside her school in Mandsaur.
They raped her and mutilated her body parts with a knife after taking her to a secluded spot before trying to slit her throat and running off.
The court heard how the two men pre-planned the attack with the intention of killing the victim and disfiguring her body to cover the crime.
Police said the duo had planned the crime for a long time, scanning schoolchildren for days, and had "chosen a small child who wouldn't fight back."
This ruling marks the first death sentence for rape since India changed the law to start executing pedophiles following widespread outrage from citizens regarding previous cases.
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According to the Daily Mail, the girl's life was saved by locals who found her and rushed her to a hospital where she remains with critical injuries.
Crowds chanted "death to rapists" after the brutal attack in the central state of Madhya Pradesh two months ago.
The men were convicted in court on Tuesday under a new law allowing for fast-track trials and capital punishment for child rapists.
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India in April made the rape of children aged up to eight a capital offense following widespread outrage over earlier cases.
The last execution for rape was 14 years ago in Kolkata in eastern India.
Dhananjay Chatterjee, a building guard, was hanged for the 1990 rape and murder of an 18-year-old.
Sexual violence is rife in India, with nearly 40,000 rape cases reported in 2016.
Activists say this is just the tip of the iceberg.
India has been the focus of international attention since the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus sparked nationwide protests and highlighted its poor record on sexual violence.
READ MORE: Father Kills Pedophile After Catching Him Trying to Rape His Daughter
