The Bara District Court has slapped 35 years jail term and Rs 200,000 fine to the man convicted with the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl, the incident that galvanized the entire nation to clamor for justice and stringent punishment for heinous crimes like rape of a minor. In what has been hailed by many as a landmark verdict, a single bench of Judge Lipta Bahadur Thapa Chettri sentenced Kanhaiya Gupta to 15 years in prison for raping the minor girl and another 20 years for murdering her. This is probably the first instance in the history of the country’s justice system that a rape convict was given a maximum penalty on rape conviction through continuous hearing. The verdict has set a precedent for how a court should dispense justice when it comes to serious crimes, said Dipendra Jha, a legal professional. “It is an exemplary instance of continuous hearing, which made the justice delivery quick and just,” he said. During the hearing, District Attorney Khadananda Gautam had demanded that the defendant be given maximum jail term along with asset forfeiture. The defendant was represented by Advocate Nagendra Raut of the District Legal Aid Committee. “The court has given its verdict on the basis of his (Kanhaiya’s) statement to the court where he had confessed to the crime,” said Roshan Kumar Bhattarai, the court registrar. While the Bara -based human rights organizations have welcomed the court’s ruling, the Beti Bachau Struggle Committee has said that their fight for justice had just begun. The committee, which has been struggling for the safety of young girls and women, has demanded the death penalty for those found guilty of raping a minor. “Our struggle for the death penalty to the rapist of a minor is still on. If someone takes another’s life, they don’t deserve to live either,” said Pramod Gupta, former CA member, and coordinator of the committee. The death penalty is considered equally cruel and inhuman treatment through the human rights perspective, but the committee members argue that it is the only way to discourage the crime that the one committed by Kanhaiya. On February 20, Kanhaiya had abducted and raped the seven-year-old girl in Kalaiya. The girl was found unconscious a day after the incident behind a local school compound. She died while undergoing treatment in Kathmandu on March 8.