Three cases of child sexual abuse have made headlines in one day. On Thursday, two different courts in two different states - Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal - the death penalty to the perpetrators for their heinous crimes under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. While another court in Tripura sentenced a 70-year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a minor girl.
All three individuals are accused of sexually assaulting minors i.e., children under the age of 18 years.
Arunachal Pradesh: Hostel warden sentenced to death for sexually abusing 21 students
A special court in Arunachal Pradesh awarded a death sentence to a hostel warden who was convicted of sexually assaulting 21 students, including six boys, at a government-run residential school from 2014 to 2022. The warden, Yumken Bagra, was also convicted of abetment and failing to report the abuse.
The court also sentenced former headmaster Singtung Yorpen and Hindi teacher Marbom Ngomdir to 20 years in prison for abetment of the offence and failing to report it. The victims had reported the abuse to Yorpen, but he asked them to keep quiet to protect the school's reputation.
The case came to light in November 2022, when a man filed a complaint against Bagra for sexually assaulting, harassing, and attempting to rape his 12-year-old twin daughters at the residential school.
The special investigation team (SIT) found that Bagra had sexually assaulted at least 21 minors, including six boys aged 6-14 years, between 2014 and 2022.
“This is the first death sentence in India given to an accused under Pocso Act for aggravated penetrative sexual assault of victims in which the victims had not died,” Oyam Bingepp, who represented the victims before the court said, as per a report by Hindustan Times.
West Bengal: Man sentenced to death for rape and murder of minor girl
A Kolkata court sentenced a man to death for the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in 2023. The court held that it was a case of the rarest of rare nature and that the girl had no possibility of defending herself.
The case came forward when the girl from Tiljala went missing prompting a police investigation. Later, her body was found in a nearby flat. The tenant of the flat was arrested and charged with rape and murder of the girl following the post-mortem reports.
Special Judge (POCSO) at Alipore court, Sudipto Bhattacharya, finding the accused guilty of rape and murder, sentenced him to death, holding that it was a case of the rarest of rare nature.
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Tripura: Old man gets 20 years of imprisonment for raping minor girl
The third case involved Hashid Ali, a 70-year-old man who was sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a six-year-old girl last year. Ali had raped the girl in a jungle in the Sakaibari area in Dharmanagar in June last year after abducting her.
He was arrested after an FIR was lodged and later, the charge sheet was filed. Ali was also slapped with a fine of Rs 20,000, which would attract an additional jail term of six months if not paid.
