KOLKATA: A Pocso court in Bengal’s Hooghly sentenced a convict to death on Sunday for raping and murdering a five-year-old girl in Nov last year, marking the fifth death verdict in cases of minors’ rape-murder in the state since the Aug 9 RG Kar heinous crime.
The first judgment came on Sept 21 last year when a Pocso court in Siliguri sentenced the convict to death for the rape and murder of a 16-year-old in Matigara in Aug 2023. Five days later, a Kolkata Pocso court awarded capital punishment for the rape and murder of a seven-year-old in Tiljala in April 2023. The third verdict was pronounced on Dec 6 when a Pocso court awarded a death sentence for the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in Kultali in Oct. The fourth judgment came seven days later on Dec 13, when a Farakka court sentenced a man to death for raping and killing a nine-year-old. That trial lasted 61 days.
ADG Jawed Shamim said these convictions are a step towards ensuring justice, not just for the victim or her immediate family but for the larger society, where women, especially minors, must feel safe.
Bivas Chatterjee, special public prosecutor in three of these cases (Matigara, Kultali, and Farakka), said the convictions were secured based on strong evidence. “These cases are the rarest of the rare as they involve minors less than 10 years of age, and the accused were people the victims met every day and trusted,” he said.
Senior advocates and legal experts welcomed the convictions but warned that emotions or public opinion cannot be the basis of justice. “Quicker delivery of justice is always welcome, but it has to be justice-oriented and not influenced by public opinion,” former state advocate-general Jayanta Mitra said.
In the RG Kar case, Mitra said it seems there is going to be an appeal in higher courts. “Quicker disposition of justice should be introspective,” Mitra felt. Senior advocate Milon Mukherjee said in most cases where a lower court or trial court has found someone guilty and sentenced them to life or death, they move to higher courts. In many cases, they have been acquitted, he said.
Following RG Kar, Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024, has sought to change several sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The punishment for rape, gang rape, acid attacks, and repeat offenders has been proposed to be imprisonment for the remainder of the convict’s life. Under BNS, if rape results in the victim’s death or leaves her in a persistent vegetative state, the death penalty is only one of the punishments besides a life term or a minimum sentence of 20 years in jail.
