In what is being touted as the first judgement of its kind in India, a court in Hyderabad on Thursday sentenced a juvenile in conflict with law, to double life imprisonment for sexual assault and murder of a 10-year-old boy.

The 17-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 5 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for aggravated penetrative sexual assault and under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for murder. The accused was also sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for 'unnatural' offence, 10 years for kidnapping and 7 years for disappearance of evidence under various sections of the IPC.

According to Telangana Director General of Police M Mahender Reddy, this is the first judgement of its kind in the country where a juvenile in conflict with law is sentenced to two life imprisonments. The gruesome incident had occurred in Barkas area of the old city of Hyderabad two years ago.

On June 28, 2017, the accused had taken a 10-year-old along with him on the pretext of playing. The victim was taken to terrace of a government school, where the accused allegedly raped him and then murdered him by hitting on his head with an iron pipe.

The accused, who was the victim's neighbor, hid the body for eight days. The case under the limits of Chandrayangutta police station was solved after the police picked him on suspicion and questioned him. The crime had also upset several locals, who staged protests, demanding that the accused be identified and arrested, so that justice could be meted out.

Following the conviction, Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar on Thursday announced Rs 20,000 reward for the officer who investigated the case.

IANS inputs