Life imprisonment to rape accused in post-poll violence case in Bengal.

A special court in Malda district has awarded life sentence with a penalty of Rs 50,000 to the accused retired teacher Rafikul Islam alias Bhelu for raping a nine-year-old girl, the first conviction in the 2021 post-poll violence in West Bengal, official sources said.

Additional district & sessions judge, 2nd (POCSO court), Malda, Rajib Saha, who had convicted Rafikul Islam on Wednesday, pronounced the quantum of punishment on Saturday. The accused, a retired school teacher of a government school in Malda, was found guilty of raping the minor girl in the evening of June 4, 2021 while she was playing in the mango orchard of the accused. The accused lured her with money, said the CBI, which probed the crime after the Calcutta High Court ordered the agency to investigate the post-poll violence including rape, murders and looting.

The incident of rape was witnessed by the cousin of the victim who is also a minor girl aged around 10 years. “Both the victim and the eyewitness deposed strongly about the incident of rape before the trial court“, a CBI statement said.

The court has further directed that the state of West Bengal will provide Rs 3 lakh to the victim from the Victim Compensation Fund. This was the first post-poll violence case which has ended in conviction and the accused has been awarded the life imprisonment.

Team Maverick