An SC/ST court in Rajasthan's Alwar on Saturday awarded capital punishment to a 19-year-old youth for raping a seven-month-old infant.
This is the first conviction in Rajasthan and third in the country after the POCSO Act was amended.
"The judgement has come within 70 days of the incident and this is the first conviction in the state under the amended POCSO Act, that came into force in April, and previously in two such cases in Madhya Pradesh", DGP OP Galhotra said.
Special judge Jagendra Kumar Agarwal of the SC/ ST court took 12 hearings over 22 days and convicted the youth on Wednesday.
On May 1, the victim's father filed a complaint with the police that the accused, Pintu, had raped his daughter while she was left in the care of his relative.
The father was informed by the relative that Pintu had taken the baby and while searching for the baby, he came across her in a football field which was about 1 km from their home.
The father said that he found the infant bleeding profusely as she was raped by Pintu.
Based on the father's complaint, the police arrested Pintu under sections 363,366 A, 376 AB, 376(2) of the IPC as well under the sections of the POCSO Act.
On April 2, Rajasthan Assembly passed the act of death penalty to those found guilty of raping a minor below 12 years.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje took to Twitter to express her happiness
"Justice prevails. The Hon’ble Court by awarding the highest penalty has passed a message on how society rejects such perverse acts. Not a moment to rejoice but to introspect so that every family educates their sons on how valuable girls are", Vasundhara tweeted.
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