Guwahati: In one of the fastest trials ever, a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Bihar’s Araria district has sentenced a man to life term imprisonment for sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl.
But what made the case unique was the fact that the court examined ten witnesses, heard the case, convicted and awarded ‘life imprisonment sentence’, all in a single day.
The verdict is considered the fastest delivered by any POCSO court in the country.
According to the reports, the court examined ten witnesses, heard the case, convicted and awarded ‘life imprisonment’ sentence to the accused in a single day.
The case was related to the rape of an eight-year-old girl on July 22 this year and the FIR was lodged on July 23.
Though the proceedings of the court occurred on October 4, 2021, the order sheet related to the case was made available on November 26.
POCSO Court Special Judge Shashi Kant Rai also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict. The court also directed the victim to get Rs 7 lakh in compensation from the Victim Compensation Fund.
Directorate of Prosecution, Home Department of the Bihar government in a statement said, “This is perhaps the first case in which punishment has been given in a single day of trial. Before it, in Datia (MP) district, a court had delivered a verdict after three days of trial on 8 August 2018. Bihar has now made a national record by conducting a trial in a single day by giving a life sentence to the convict till his last breath.”
