The POCSO court in the Araria district in Bihar set a record by closing the fastest trial in the country. The court sentenced a man in just one day’s proceedings to life term imprisonment for raping an eight-year-old girl.
The POCSO court fast tracked the proceedings by recording witnesses, arguments and counter-arguments, convicting the accused and issuing its judgement in just one day. This is the fastest verdict by any POCSO court in the country.
The Judge, Shashikant Ray directed the convict to pay ₹7 lakh as compensation to the girl along with the fine of ₹50,000.
The order was passed on October 4, but the order sheet of the case was made available on November 26.
An eight-year-old girl was raped on July 22 this year and an FIR was lodged against the accused on the next day of the crime. The in charge of the case was Arabia’s women’s police station in charge Rita Kumari.
The POCSO Public prosecutor, Shyamlal Yadav said that the case beat the record of a court in MP’s Datia district.
“The case in Araria was the speediest trial of a rape case in the country. It beat the record of a court in Madhya Pradesh’S Datia district that wrapped up in three days a rape trial in August 2018.”
Shyamlal Yadav ( POCSO Public Prosecutor)
Bihar’s Home Department issued a statement appreciating the judgement.
“This is perhaps the first case in which punishment has been given in a single day of trial in the country. 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.”