HIV-infected men get lifer for raping, murdering minor

BANGALORE: A Mumbai sessions court on Friday awarded life imprisonment to four HIV-infected men for raping and murdering a three-year-old girl.

They had committed the crime under the misconception that a sexual union with a child would cure them of the dreaded virus.

Mohammed Sameer (19), a newspaper vendor, and his three friends committed the crime at Shivaji Nagar in Mumbai in March a year ago.

Sameer, who was picked up on suspicion, underwent a narco-analysis test in Bangalore in November the past year, during which he admitted to the crime.

"We had a misconception that we could get rid of HIV if we had sex with children," Sameer said during the narco test. He also revealed that he was a paedophile who kidnapped children of homeless migrants and raped them. Despite this confession, police have not yet received any complaints against him in this regard.

Sameer had admitted to two dozen similar crimes. He was said to have contracted HIV from a brothel he had visited along with his friends. He started kidnapping children since he could not afford to pay the sex workers.

The other three convicts were not subjected to narco test.

Sameer and his friends picked up the three-year-old daughter of a chemist and gang-raped her at an isolated place. They stuffed her mouth with chocolates to suppress her screams. They even burnt her body with cigarette butts.

The victim's body was later found in a septic tank near her house. She had been stifled with a handkerchief.