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Child Abuse Case: In a major verdict, a special court on Friday slapped a couple with a death sentence for filming and selling minor children’s pornographic videos on the dark web. The incident happened in Uttar Pradesh’s Chitrakoot six years ago. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Banda, during the special hearing, announced its verdict in the case, which is considered one of the region’s most disturbing child exploitation cases.
The convicts are Ram Bhavan, a junior engineer who worked at the Irrigation Department and his wife Durgavati, a housewife. The court found the couple guilty under several provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the POCSO Act and the Information Technology Act. Section 377 of the IPC also invoked as the couple committed offences before it was read down by the top court.
The special bench awarded capital punishment to both the couples and instructed the UP government and the central government to provide Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the victims who are identified as financial assistance.
The entire case was probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The couple was arrested in 2020 after reports of child sexual abuse in Banda, Chitrakoot and other districts.
CBI state that the accused couple targeted small kids which were aged between 5-16 years from their neighbourhood. They used to lure them, sexually abuse them and record video of the heinous act. CBI teams recovered 12 mobile phones, two laptops and Rs 8 lakh cash from the accused couple’s residence. They also seized a hard disk and six pen drives.
Following the examination of the electronic devices it was confirmed that the couple was involved in making child sexual material in large volume. According to CBI, the videos were sold to buyers, which also included foreign nationals. The accused used dark web to sell these videos.
Initial probe revealed that as many as 33 victims were abused by the couple. The charge sheet also included statements of people aged between 4 to 22 years.
CBI also nabbed a man from Delhi in connection with the case.
Further investigation into the case is underway.
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