A 32-year-old man named Karthik has been sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in Mysuru, India. The crime took place in October last year, and the sentence was handed down on Saturday by a special fast-track court.
Abduction and attack
The girl was sleeping beside her family in a makeshift plastic tent on a footpath when Karthik took her at around 3.21am on October 9. He carried her approximately 100 feet away before sexually assaulting her and inflicting 27 stab wounds.
The girl's father discovered she was missing when he woke at about 5.30am and began searching. He found his daughter dead with multiple stab and cut injuries across her body.
Family circumstances
The family had arrived in Mysuru on September 18, 2025, to sell items including balloons, dolls, headbands and plastic bangles. Six family members were living in the tent, and they would normally leave for work at around 5pm before returning at about 11pm.
Police tracked Karthik after identifying him boarding an autorickshaw nearby around the time of the abduction. He was later arrested at a bar in Kollegala, around 65km (40 miles) from Mysuru, and has remained in judicial custody since.
Conviction and sentencing
A special fast-track court dealing with cases under India's Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act convicted Karthik on October 15. Special public prosecutor KB Jayanthi argued that the case was among the "rarest of rare" as she called for the death penalty, pointing to the young age of the victim, the brutality of the crime, the 27 stab wounds and the sexual assault and murder.
The prosecution relied on witness testimony and documentary evidence, while the investigating officer cited 83 witnesses in the charge sheet. Special court judge Anand P Hogade sentenced Karthik to death on Saturday, just over a year after the killing.
