Minor’s rape: Man awarded life sentence

MP | 10 May 2023 | Kolkata: A youth has been awarded life imprisonment on Monday by the Special POCSO Court, Barasat for raping a minor girl in 2018. The prosecution had appealed for the highest punishment which is life imprisonment for cases under POCSO Act.

The incident had taken place on May 3, 2018, around 4 pm. The victim was playing inside the premises of a housing complex in New Town when a courier delivery person asked her to show a specific address.

While the girl was showing the youth identified as Somnath Paul the flat, he took her up to the 14th floor of the building. There Paul pretended to show her magic tricks and raped her.

After committing the crime, Paul left the building while the girl somehow managed to reach her home and inform her parents about the incident. Paul was arrested from his home in Barasat.

During the hearings and trial, public prosecutor Bibhas Chatterjee took the help of the CCTV footage and report of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) to ensure a flawless argument. 

The DVR device of the CCTV camera monitoring system was seized and sent to the CFSL for examination. Also, sample videos of the victim and Paul were sent to CFSL. After examination, CFSL reported that the DVR was not tampered with and the persons in the CCTV footage and sample video were the same. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/minors-rape-man-awarded-life-sentence-518007