A sessions court here on Wednesday awarded death sentence to three men convicted for the brutal rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Maharashtra’s Kopardi village in 2016.

Additional Special Judge Suvarna Kevale awarded the death sentence to Jitendra Babulal Shinde, Santosh Gorakh Bhawal and Nitin Gopinath Bhailume.

The judge had on November 18 convicted the three men on charges of rape, murder and criminal conspiracy. The incident had triggered widespread protests from the Maratha community, who took out marches across the state over it.

The victim, who belonged to the Maratha community, was found murdered after being raped on July 13, 2016 at Kopardi village in Ahmednagar district.

The accused also inflicted injuries all over her body and broke her limbs before throttling her, police said.

On October 7, the Ahmednagar Police had filed the chargesheet running into over 350 pages before the court in which the trio was charged under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape) and relevant sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.