Jaipur (Rajasthan), Oct 6: A local court in Jaipur court on Tuesday sentenced a 25-year-old man to 20 years in jail for raping a nine-year-old girl. The judge while delivering his judgment imposed punishment within nine days of the commission of the crime.

 

Hailing the judgment, law veterans and experts said that setting a benchmark mark on the swiftness of the delivery of the verdict also enhances the deterrence value of the punishment since the special POCSO court decided the case within five working days and convicted the accused. The court also imposed a penalty of ₹ 2 lakh on convict Kamlesh Meena.

 

In a departure from old court practice, the judge delivered this landmark order within five working days of the filing of challan, which was submitted to the court within 18 hours of the registration of the case, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Jaipur South) Harendra Kumar said.

 

He said POCSO court number 3 of Jaipur Metropolitan City sentenced Meena to 20 years in jail for raping a minor girl on September 26 evening.

 

The case was registered with Kotkhawda Police Station under relevant sections of IPC and POCSO on the night intervening September 26 and 27 and the accused was arrested early in the morning the next day.

 

A senior police official said that the charge sheet against the accused was filed within 18 hours of the registration of the case. The court completed the trial within five working days and pronounced the judgment on Tuesday.

 

Taking note of the seriousness of the crime, more than 150 policemen were engaged and different teams were given different tasks and due to the collective efforts, the charge sheet was filed in such a short time, the official said.