A POCSO court in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district on Friday sentenced a 23-year-old man to death for raping a three-year-old girl at Dabri Dheer village when her maternal grandparents were away on August 2. The court delivered the judgment in a record 20 days after the submission of charge sheet in the case.
Judge Neerja Dadhich awarded death penalty to Vinod Banjara, a resident of Dausa who sold utensils in Jhunjhunu district, after convicting him for the minor girl’s rape on the basis of evidence produced by the prosecution. The police had formed a special team to investigate the case after arresting Vinod under the stringent provisions of the POCSO Act and the Indian Penal Code.
The minor girl, who was visiting her grandparents, was playing inside the house when her grandmother went to buy buttermilk for her. While selling utensils, Vinod spotted the girl in the house and raped her and fled. Her grandmother returned home only to find the child profusely bleeding and crying in pain.
During investigation, the police found that the suspect was a vendor. Multiple teams were formed after identifying the rapist through the CCTV footage elsewhere and raids were conducted at several places. Vinod was tracked down and arrested from his house in Chirawa on August 3 after a night-long operation.
The investigating team acted fast in collecting the evidence, including the convict’s clothes, and the prosecution submitted the charge-sheet in the court on August 11. The trial was completed in a record 20 days.
The minor is suffering from multiple ailments, including heart-related problems, and is at present under treatment. Ironically, Vinod is the father of a girl, as his wife delivered the child only a week ago.