A POCSO court in Kolkata has sentenced a 34-year-old man to death for raping a 7-month-old infant, which left the child in critical condition. The court also ordered Rs 10 lakh as compensation for the child's family.

The incident, which occurred in November 2024, had been investigated by the Burtolla police in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. 

Upon completion of the investigation, the police had filed a chargesheet against the sole accused Rajib Ghosh. State counsel had sought the death penalty for the accused while prosecuting the case.

"This is a rarest of rare case...cannot think of any other punishment," Sessions judge Indrila Mukhopadhyay stated while delivering the verdict.

Notably, the death sentence comes less than three months after the commission of the crime and was delivered under Section 6 of the POCSO Act which deals with aggravated penetrative sexual assault.