4-yr-old identifies rapist from photo

JAIPUR: On February 2, a fouryear-old girl in Jaipur’s JK Lone Hospital identified a man who had raped her three days earlier after seeing nine mug shots of possible suspects pasted on a white sheet of paper. Five days later, the process was repeated in court. The result was Rajasthan’s fastest trial in a rape case.

A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act court in Sikar district completed the trial in five working days, and on February 11, awarded a term of life imprisonment

until death to the man after finding him guilty, said public prosecutor Shivratan Sharma.

“The trial began on February 5 and concluded around 8pm on Monday. It took only five working days for the judge to pronounce the man guilty of the heinous crime,” Sharma said.

The speed displayed in this case is an exception, not the norm in a country where there were 133,000 rape cases pending at the end of 2016 according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Although both state governments and the Centre have repeatedly promised speedy trials in rape cases, many drag on for years.

The previous fastest trial in a rape case in the state took place in 2005 when a Jodhpur court took 11 working days to convict an auto rickshaw driver and his accomplice in the rape of a German woman.