IANS, February 17, 2025, Kolkata: A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) court in Kolkata on Monday convicted the accused in the rape of a seven-month-old girl in Kolkata in November last year.
The Pocso court judge will pronounce the sentence on Rajiv Ghosh, 34, on Tuesday. The public prosecutor has sought capital punishment.
The conviction came within three months of the crime on November 30, 2024. The police started the investigation and filed the charge sheet in the matter within 26 days from the date of the crime.
The victim went missing from a roadside shanty located in the Burtolla area in north Kolkata. The victim’s parents immediately informed the police and soon the victim girl was traced from a footpath nearby.
A medical examination confirmed the rape. The police, on the basis of the CCTV footage, identified Ghosh and he was arrested from Gopiballavpur in Jhargram district on December 4 last year.
Investigation proved that he silently kidnapped the sleeping victim from the shanty that night and subsequently raped her.
The conviction came within three months of the crime on November 30, 2024. The police started the investigation and filed the charge sheet in the matter within 26 days from the date of the crime.
He was booked under Section 137 (2) (punishment for kidnapping), Section 65 (2) (punishment for rape of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Pocso Act, 2012.
West Bengal had been in the negative headlines during the last six months for various reported cases of rape and rape & murder and in many cases, the victim was a minor.
The most talked about case on this count was the ghastly rape & murder of a ghastly of a woman junior doctor of the state-run- R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata in August last year.
However, in this particular case in the Burtolla area, civil society and people were in a state of shock considering that the victim was just seven months old.
The incident came to light on November 30 when the residents heard the sound of a baby crying on the footpath in the Burtolla area of north Kolkata and alerted authorities, police sources said. A person called the Burtolla police station to report that a girl was sitting alone on the footpath outside his house, crying profusely. Police rushed to the spot and found the infant near a residential area at 1:45 am, they added.
Shortly after, two footpath dwellers reported their seven-month-old daughter missing at a nearby police station. After identifying their daughter, the infant was taken to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital for examination.
“The parents of the toddler had also approached us. We took the child to the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital where doctors were shocked to see the injury marks near her private parts. There were several scratch marks on her body as well, indicating sexual molestation.” a police officer told PTI.
“Initial investigation revealed that the baby was picked up from the footpath, and taken somewhere and raped. After the crime was committed, she was dropped again.
Doctors reported injuries to the infant’s private parts and other body parts. Police confirmed the child was examined by the gynaecology department around 3 am, where evidence of sexual assault was found.
The Burtolla Police Station registered a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and other applicable sections based on the mother’s complaint.
