In Kolkata, West Bengal, a POCSO court has sentenced a 34-year-old man to death for raping a 7-month old child to death and leaving her to die in November 2024. The court has also asked the convict Rajib Ghosh alias Gobra to pay Rs 10 lakhs to the victim as compensation.
Judge Indrila Mukhopadhyaya Mitra called the case ‘rarest of rare’ and added that there is no other sentence that the court can think of. The conviction and sentencing has come within 80-days of the crime.
Apart from section 6 of the POCSO Act, which calls for the death penalty for penetrative sexual assault of a child, convict Ghosh was also found guilty under section 65(2), 118, 137, and 140.
The Special Public Prosecutor sought death penalty for the crime, highlighting the severity and brutality of the act against a little infant of 7-months. However, the defence lawyer sought leniency, citing that the convict has elderly parents at home and nobody else to care for them. Defence lawyer repeatedly argued that the victim survived in the case, hence the sentence must be reduced.
However, the court order said that as per provisions under section 6 of the POCSO Act, the victim does not have to die to ensure a death sentence for the rapist.
