A district court in Satna on Wednesday awarded death sentence to a contractual teacher for raping a four-year-old girl in this Madhya Pradesh district nearly three months ago, saying he turned out to be a demon instead of acting as a protector and the case fell in the "rarest of rare" category.

With this, 14 rapists have been sentenced to death in Madhya Pradesh since February 28 in 13 separate cases- for raping 12 girls and sodomising a boy.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Dinesh Kumar Sharma awarded the death sentence to Mahendra Singh Gond (27) after convicting him under IPC section 376 AB (rape on woman under 12 years of age) and section 5/6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

"Being a teacher, the accused has a duty to improve the society. But instead of acting as a protector, he turned out to be a demon with his act of raping a four-year four months and one-day old innocent girl, and inflicted barbaric injuries to her private parts," the court said.

"He committed the heinous crime on a hapless girl, who does not even know the meaning of sex," the judge observed.

The court said it is of the view that the accused poses a great threat to the society, and considers the case fit to be in the rarest of rare category. "Therefore, according to the law he deserves death," the court said.

The victim, who was raped on July 1, is still in a critical condition and undergoing treatment at a Delhi-based hospital.

The court also sentenced the convict to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for kidnapping the girl. "The court awarded death penalty to Gond after recording the statements of the girl and her parents over video-conferencing as they are in Delhi," District Prosecution Officer Rampal Singh told.