Alwar: Court awards death penalty to 19-year-old for raping infant girl
The historic judgement under the recently amended sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POSCO) Act came barely two months after the girl was raped. The speedy trial was hailed by social activists and people.
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Protest against girl child rape. File Photo.
Jaipur: A court in Alwar on Saturday ordered capital punishment for a 19-year-old man, identified as Pintu Bharada alias Pintu Joshi who raped a 7-month-old girl in Alwar. The historic judgement under the recently amended sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POSCO) Act came barely two months after the girl was raped. The speedy trial was hailed by social activists and people.
This is the first case of death penalty in a child rape case under the POSCO Act in Rajasthan.
Judge Jagendra Agarwal ordered the rapist, Pintu Bharada alias Pintu Joshi to hang. The incident took place on May 10. The girl’s family had gone out, leaving the child in care of her visually-impaired sister-in-law. When the father returned, the girl was missing.
The family started searching for the girl. She was found in agriculture farm nearly one kilometer away from her home. She was profusely bleeding from her private part and rushed to a hospital.
After the girl’s father registered an FIR with Alwar police, Pintu was arrested and booked under Meanwhile, Pintu has been booked under Sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 A (Procuration of minor girl) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code, and several relevant sections under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The girl went through several surgeries of her private parts. The police filed a chargesheet within days of the arrest. Pintu was convicted by the court.
The Rajasthan government had recently made some amendments in the POSCO Act that makes the provision of death penalty for those found guilty of raping girls aged 12 or below.
Criminals found guilty of raping a minor girl (aged 18 or below) will now get a maximum punishment of 14 years and life imprisonment. The existing laws makes allows a maximum sentence of seven years. If a minor is gang-raped and the child dies, the convict will have to spend 20 years in jail.
According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) 2016 report, the cases of crimes against children have shown a steady rise in Rajasthan. The state recorded 4,034 such cases in 2016, which is 3.8 per cent of the crimes against children (98,344) registered across the country. It stands fourth in the crime against women category.
