Special Court Awards Death Penalty to Ex-Engineer, Wife for Abuse of 33 Children in UP

A special court in Uttar Pradesh's Banda on Friday sentenced a former junior engineer of the state's Irrigation Department and his wife to death for the sexual exploitation of 33 minor boys -- some as young as three -- over a decade, officials said.

The POCSO court termed the crimes as "rarest of rare" and held Ram Bhawan and his wife Durgawati guilty of systematically abusing children between 2010 and 2020. 

The duo circulated over two lakh objectionable videos and photographs of the victims to nearly



47 countries via the internet.

The couple was convicted under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act by the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (POCSO) Pradeep Kumar Mishra. 

They were found guilty of offences including aggravated penetrative sexual assault, using a child for pornographic purposes, storage of pornographic material involving children, and abetment and criminal conspiracy, Special Public Prosecutor Saurabh Singh said.