Hyderabad: In India, for the first time, a minor has been awarded life imprisonment in Hyderabad. The court on Thursday sentenced a 17-year-old for kidnapping, raping and murdering a 10-year-old in the city. 

The murder occurred on June 28, 2017. The victim went missing for over 10 days. The boy's father, after searching for hours, lodged a police complaint. Soon after, the police began investigating. In a CCTV footage, it was found that the boy was seated with the accused in Barkas Badi Masjid. From the mosque, the accused took the victim to the government boys high school in Barkas promising to show pigeons as the boy was fond of those birds. 

Later, the boy was allegedly raped and murdered by the accused. As the accused had beaten the kid's head with an iron rod, he died. After the murder, the accused hid the body of the deceased for eight days. While the police reached the spot, the body of the boy was decomposed. 

 The atrocities against children are increasing in India as shown by the rising number of registered cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in the last four years. The crime in India as per 2016 statistics of National Crime Records Bureau states that in every 15 minutes in India, a child is sexually abused in the country.