Kolkata POCSO court sentences man to death for raping 7-month-old girl
The girl is still battling for her life in the ICU of a State-run hospital in Kolkata and has already undergone four surgeries
Kolkata: A 34-year-old man was sentenced to death by a POCSO court in Kolkata on Tuesday for raping a seven-month-old girl in November 2024.
The child, a footpath-dweller in north Kolkata, is still battling for her life in the ICU of a State-run hospital and has already undergone four surgeries, the court was told.
“The court had held the man Rajib Ghosh guilty of rape on Monday. On Tuesday, while stating that the case fits into the rarest of the rare crime bracket, the court sentenced him to death,” said Bivas Chatterjee, special public prosecutor.
Police said that some local residents of Burtolla in north Kolkata had found the child bleeding and crying on December 1, 2024. The police were alerted and on medical examination it was found that she was raped.
“The accused raped and tortured her for 30 minutes in the intervening night of November 30 and December 1 after picking her up from the footpath where she was sleeping with her parents. Later he dumped her near a temple in a naked condition,” said an officer.
Police had earlier said that technology and a peculiar limping gait of the man had helped the sleuths to identify him.
“At least 24 witnesses were examined. A doctor of the RG Kar Hospital had told the court that he has never seen such a heinous crime. The perineal region had completely ruptured. Doctors have told that she won’t be able to live a normal life,” Chatterjee told the court during the hearing.
Ghosh was charged under various sections of the BNS dealing with kidnapping to commit serious offence and rape of a minor below 16 years and Section 6 of the POCSO Act which deals with punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault.
“Such was the crime that the court, while announcing the judgement, observed that he has no right to live,” said Chatterjee.