KOLKATA: A Pocso court on Monday termed “rarest of rare” a case in which it held a 34-year-old man guilty of raping a seven-month-old child after kidnapping her from a Kolkata pavement where she had been sleeping beside her mother.
The prosecution said it would seek death for Rajib Ghosh alias Gobra for his Nov 30 crime. The punishment may be announced Tuesday. The child continues to be critical in RG Kar Hospital for two months amid assessments she would be left with permanent damage.
Twenty-four witnesses testified, one of them being Saptarshi Chatterjee, RG Kar medical superintendent-cum-vice-principal who said the baby had suffered complete peritoneal rupture and that she had not gained any weight in two months.
The child was allegedly abducted late Nov 30 night from the kerbside in Burtolla area by Ghosh, who had reportedly carried out a recce of the spot thrice.
A resident of the area noticed an infant howling on the pavement in front of his home late in the night, with no one around. The person alerted the cops. Around the same time, the infant’s parents approached the police to trace their child, eventually leading the baby to be reunited with the parents and rushed to RG Kar.
Police used modern technology to decipher grainy CCTV footage and track down Ghosh, who walked with a limp, on Jan 7, public prosecutor Bivas Chatterjee said, adding it was the limp that distinguished him from others.
Cops filed the chargesheet within 26 days. The trial began on Jan 4 and was completed in 40 days, said the prosecutor. Ghosh was pronounced guilty under sections of BNS and Pocso Act.