Serial rapist slapped life term by POCSO court in UP's Bahraich

A special POCSO court here sentenced a man to life imprisonment for kidnapping and raping a six-year-old girl, officials said on Tuesday.

Convicted "serial rapist" Avinash Pandey, who was also fined Rs 1,60,000, faces four cases of similar crimes.

Additional Superintendent of Police (Rural Area) Durga Prasad Tiwari said Pandey kidnapped and raped a girl from a village under the Sujauli Police Station jurisdiction.

On June 15, around 4 pm, the girl disappeared while playing outside her house, and was found late at night in a sugarcane field outside the village.

Police filed a case against unknown person(s) in the matter at the complaint of the girl's father.

According to Tiwari, her father later told police that several girls had disappeared similarly on June 25, 28, and July 3 and were later found.

All girls were aged between five and eight, and were not able to tell much.

A different approach, which involved sensitivity to a child's psychology, used by Mihipurwa Police Circle Officer Harshita Tiwari, led the victims to reveal that the man who took them away was around 30 years old, drunk, and had tattoos on his hand.

They also revealed that after he physically abused them, he offered them candy, food, or new clothes.

Based on the description, the police arrested Avinash Pandey, alias Simple, a native of the same village, within three days, Tiwari said.

Police found photographs of young girls on his phone.

A charge sheet was filed against him in August, and a speedy trial was requested.

On Monday, Special Additional Sessions Judge (POCSO) Deepakant Mani convicted and sentenced Pandey.

The same court on September 24 sentenced him to a life term for a similar crime.

Verdict is awaited in the other two cases.