Hoshiarpur: A special court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on Friday awarded the death penalty to Nanke Yadav, a native of Uttar Pradesh, for the sexual abuse and murder of a five-year-old boy.

Judge Manpreet Kaur ruled that the gravity of the crime placed it in the rarest of rare category. The capital sentence now awaits confirmation from the Punjab and Haryana high court.

The verdict comes a day ahead of the statutory deadline. Section 35 of the POCSO Act mandates that special courts wrap up trials within one year of taking cognizance.

Yadav abducted the child on September 9, 2023, while he was playing outside his house in Deep Nagar. The boy’s body was recovered from a cremation ground in Purhiran the following day.

On September 15, the court convicted Yadav under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 6 of the POCSO Act, reserving Friday for sentencing. Advocate Ashwani Kumar Verma represented the victim’s family.

“We cannot get our son back, but a death sentence brings some relief,” said the child’s father, Amandeep Singh. “Real justice will be met when the convict is actually hanged.” The family had relocated to Hoshiarpur from Bhanaoke village near Phagwara just months before the murder.

The crime triggered anti-migrant protests across the state, prompting several panchayats to pass resolutions targeting non-Punjabi workers and renewing calls to restrict migrant settlements.