In Landmark Order, UP Couple Gets Death For Sexually Assaulting 33 Children

A couple has been sentenced to death by a court in Uttar Pradesh after being convicted in a case of sexual assault of 33 children, some of them as young as three years old. The landmark verdict came from the court of a special judge for the POCSO Act in UP's Banda.

The accused, Rambhawan and wife Durgawati, were convicted under several sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. They include unnatural offences, aggravated penetrative sexual offences, child pornography, and criminal conspiracy, among others.

The court ordered the government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to every survivor. In addition to this, any money recovered from the house of the accused should be distributed equally among the survivors, the court said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case in October 2020 against Rambhawan and others on allegations of sexual abuse of children.

During investigation, the CBI found that the accused committed sexual crimes. The crimes were barbaric; some of the survivors suffered injuries on their private parts. A few of them had to live in hospitals for years.

Some have eye injuries, and many of them are suffering from psychological trauma caused by the predators. The accused had been operating in UP's Banda and Chitrakoot between 2010 and 2020.

Rambhawan had been working as a junior engineer in the Department of Irrigation. He used various methods to lure children, including access to online video games and giving money and gifts.

The CBI investigation remained sensitive toward the minor survivors. They were medically examined and their emotional well-being was ensured through counselling. There was good coordination among forensic and medical experts dealing with child sexual abuse cases and child protection authorities. The investigation also ensured handling and preservation of digital evidence.

All these added up to a watertight, successful case. The CBI filed the chargesheet in February 2021 against Rambhawan and his wife.

The court said the case was "rarest of rare" on the basis of unparalleled depravity and systemic nature of their crimes.

The sheer scale of the crime across multiple districts, combined with the extreme moral turpitude of the convicts, marks this as a crime of such an exceptional and heinous nature that it leaves no room for reformation, necessitating the ultimate judicial deterrent to meet the ends of justice, the court said.

The CBI remains steadfast in its commitment to identifying, investigating, and prosecuting cases involving child sexual abuse and exploitation, sources said. It continues to give top priority to such offences and reaffirms its resolve to safeguard the rights and dignity of children, sources said.