The man accused of raping the girl was 17 years' old at the time of the incident. Additional District and Sessions Judge, Fast Track Special Court (POCSO), Prashant Parashar passed the order on January 29 and a copy of it was made available on Wednesday.

The judge convicted the three persons under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, public prosecutor Sameer Agrawal said.

According to the prosecution, the victim, resident of a village under Baloda Bazar City Kotwali police station area, was playing at the house of her neighbour on May 25, 2021 when the accused man, then a juvenile, took her along with him and raped her, he said.

The accused, with help of his mother, strangled the girl to death and dumped the body in a well with the support of another accused person, he said. Next day, the girl's body was recovered following which the police registered a case and launched a probe into it, he said.

After an investigation, the three persons were arrested and booked under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), as well as provisions of the POCSO Act and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the prosecutor said.

The police filed a charge sheet in the case on September 1, 2021 and statements of 29 witnesses were recorded, he said.