KOLKATA: A Pocso court in Kolkata on Tuesday sentenced a 34-year-old man to death for raping a seven-month-old infant on Nov 30 last year and leaving her fighting for life, terming the case “rarest of rare”.
“There cannot be any other punishment that the court can think of,” judge Indrila Mukherjee Mitra said in her verdict against Rajib Ghosh, alias Gobra, a day after he was held guilty. Special public prosecutor Bivas Chatterjee described the order as “historic” for Bengal’s judicial system.
“This is because we have not seen the death sentence given in such cases until now. In this case, the girl survived,” Chatterjee said.
The prosecutor had sought death. “The defence lawyer repeatedly argued whether we could seek the death penalty since the girl survived. The law, however, does not state that the victim must die to pronounce a death sentence,” Chatterjee argued.
The sentencing comes less than three months – within 80 days – of the crime. The court also awarded compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the baby, who continues to be critical in RG Kar Hospital for over two months amid assessments that she would be left with permanent damage.
Ghosh had raped the infant after kidnapping her from a pavement in Kolkata’s Burtolla area where she had been sleeping beside her mother on late in the night of Nov 30.
