A year ago, a seven-year-old girl, Hasini, was playing in the safe confines of a multi-storied apartment building in Chennai’s Mugalivakkam. Her mother went to a nearby shop for a quick purchase. When she came back, Hasini was missing.

She was found a few days later, charred. She had been raped and choked to death, her body carried in a travel bag and burnt near a highway.

The spine-chilling crime, it was found, was committed by Daswant, a 23-year-old mechanical engineer who launched himself into the police investigation on the pretext of helping out. The police’s suspicion was aroused when he made contradictory statements.

Daswant was arrested but, in a twist of fate, let out on bail on technical grounds as the police failed to file a chargesheet in time. He then proceeded to murder his mother over her refusal to part with her jewels to fuel his addictions.

He was again arrested in Mumbai but managed to escape from a restaurant in true filmy style. The police managed to hunt him down yet again and nab him.

Daswant was brought back to Chennai once the police got the necessary documents. He wrote a confession admitting to the crime, in a bid to avoid trial. The court refused, got him a lawyer, pursued a trial and on Monday, the Chengalpattu Mahila court pronounced a death sentence for Daswant in the case.

Justice did get served in this case, but the larger question of prevention of such gruesome crimes still looms large not just across the country but across the world.

Be it seven-year-old Hasini or eight-month-old Chutki, prevention of crimes against children is not getting the attention and discussion it deserves.

Hanging Daswant may give only some solace to the girl’s bereaved parents, when little effort goes into finding and implementing ways to ensure that such crimes are prevented and even lesser effort goes into bringing about laws that deals with child sex offenders in a tough manner.

Jayalalithaa, the late CM of Tamil Nadu, had batted for harsher punishment and swifter justice for rapists. This was after the notorious Nirbhaya rape and murder in New Delhi. The then central government did not oblige and the current central government is busy helping children face exams and running behind scamsters after they leave the country.

Despite fast-track Mahila courts being set up in the state, it took almost a year to sentence Daswant.

Until the day we get stricter laws to punish rapists and those who commit crimes against children, as well as better monitoring mechanisms, the onus of protecting kids from predators falls back on the parents and teachers.

The good old lesson for children – do not talk to strangers, do not take things from strangers – still holds good in spite of all our technological advances.

Child sex crimes are not confined to India. In developed nations such as the US, there was the highly publicised trial of former gymnastics doctor Larry Nasser, a serial child molester who was allowed to function even though numerous complaints were filed with his official supervisors, and ignored.

In India, the punishments do not befit the crime. Ironically, in Pakistan, six-year-old Zainab Ansari’s murderer and rapist was awarded four death sentences in a month because of the riots and protests the incident had sparked.