LUCKNOW: A special POCSO court in Banda district of Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh on Friday awarded the death sentence to two child predators -- a man and his wife -- for sexually assaulting 33 minors. The victims, all boys, were in the age group of 3 to 10 years.
The court awarded the sentence to Rambhawan, 50, a former junior engineer (JE) of the UP Jalkal department, and his wife Durgawati, 47, for various offences including unnatural sex, aggravated penetrative sexual assault, using minors for pronography, storage of pornographic material involving children and criminal conspiracy, under sections of Indian Penal Code and POCSO Act, said Special Public Prosecutor, Banda, Kamal Singh Gautam.
The convicted couple used to sell the pornographic content thus produced on the dark web across 47 countries.
The CBI, on the intervention of Interpol, took over the case in 2020 and highlighted the severe physical and psychological trauma inflicted on the survivors, some of whom suffered permanent disabilities.
The Additional District Judge (POCSO), Banda, PK Mishra, pronounced the sentence against the former JE and his wife under the charges of IPC 377 (unnatural sex), 506 (criminal intimidation), sections 66 and 67B of the IT Act, and multiple provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO), along with charges of 120B (criminal conspiracy) against the junior engineer’s wife.
The court also directed the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to each victim.
The court further ordered the distribution of the cash amount seized from the house of the accused persons among the victims in equal proportion.
According to Special Public Prosecutor, Banda, Kamal Singh Gautam, the CBI had registered the FIR on October 31, 2020, against Rambhawan and other unknown persons on allegations of sexual abuse of children, using children for pornographic purposes, and the creation and dissemination of Child Sexual Abuse Material over the internet.
Gautam said the CBI’s probe revealed that some of the victims suffered injuries to their private parts during penetrative sexual assault. Some of them remained admitted to hospital. Victims were still suffering from trauma, he said.
Giving a detailed account of the CBI probe, Gautam said that the couple was active in the districts of Banda and Chitrakoot from 2010 to 2020.
Rambhawan used to apply different forms of modus operandi on children, including access to online video games and giving money or gifts, to lure them.
The CBI filed the chargesheet against the couple on February 10, 2021, said Gautam. “The court relied heavily on reports given by medical experts roped in by the CBI during the investigation, digital evidence, and also the testimonies of 25 minors to classify the offence as ‘rarest of rare’,” added the Special Public Prosecutor.