Chandigarh, April 8 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has quashed the death sentences awarded to two men, including the victim's cousin, in the 2019 rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Ludhiana, and ordered a retrial.

In March 2023, a fast-track special court under the POCSO Act had awarded capital punishment to the convicts 28-year-old cousin of the victim and a 26-year-old youth.

Allegations were that convicts, both residents of Doraha and hailing from district Damriya in Uttar Pradesh, took the victim home on the pretext of getting her toffees and raped her. Later, they smashed her head with bricks.

After the girl did not return, her mother launched a search and also informed the police. The girl's half-naked body was rec...