Banda, February 21: A special court in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, has sentenced a couple, Ram Bhavan and his wife Durga Vati, to death for serious offenses under the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act. They were found guilty of heinous sexual crimes against children, including using minors for pornographic purposes and storing pornographic material involving children. The court has imposed the death penalty on both individuals.
Additionally, the trial court ordered the government to provide compensation of ₹1 million to each victim. It also directed that the cash seized from the accused’s home be equally distributed among the victims.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against Ram Bhavan and other unidentified individuals on September 31, 2020, for charges related to child sexual exploitation, using children for pornographic purposes, and creating and disseminating sexual exploitation material online.
During the investigation, it was revealed that the accused committed severe sexual assaults against 33 children, some as young as three years old. The inquiry also uncovered injuries to the private parts of some victims during the assaults, with several still hospitalized.
The victims continue to struggle with psychological trauma inflicted by the perpetrators. The couple was active in the Banda and Chitrakoot regions of Uttar Pradesh between 2010 and 2020. Ram Bhavan worked as a junior engineer in the irrigation department and used various tactics, such as granting access to online video games and offering money or gifts, to lure children.
The investigation involved coordination with forensic experts, medical professionals specializing in child sexual abuse cases, and child protection authorities. Following the completion of the investigation, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Ram Bhavan and Durga Vati on February 10, 2021.
In delivering the harshest sentence, the court deemed the crime “the rarest of rare,” involving the systematic sexual exploitation of 33 minor children.
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