In an unprecedented move, various courts in Gujarat’s Amreli, Vadodara and Rajkot have sentenced seven rapists to life imprisonment on a single day in POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) cases.
Minister of State for Home Affairs, Harsh Sanghvi, stated that the state government would continue to take strictest action against the perpetrators of rape and similar crimes.
He added that Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has instructed authorities to bring complete control over incidents of atrocities, exploitation, and rape against women and children in the state.
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Harsh Sanghvi has ordered the Gujarat Police to prepare a strong case with solid evidence so that the accused are punished severely, with special sensitivity and care for the victims of such crimes.
Harsh Sanghvi said, “The Gujarat Police is moving firmly in the same direction, the result of which can be seen in the strict punishment verdicts given to the accused. On a single day, dated February 25, 2025, the esteemed courts gave seven important verdicts in the POCSO case in the Amreli, Vadodara and Rajkot districts. In which seven rapists were sentenced to life imprisonment, seven different victims from Amreli, Vadodara and Rajkot have got justice.”
He further said that based on the detailed investigation conducted by Amreli, Vadodara and Rajkot city and Rajkot rural police in different serious cases of rape of minors-POCSO, collected technical and other evidence, effective arguments of the government prosecutor and forensic science laboratory (FSL) report, all seven accused have been sentenced to life imprisonment in seven different POCSO incidents.
“In two cases in Amreli, the chargesheets were filed within 17 days of the arrest of the accused and in the third case, the police arrested the accused on the same day. While in the rape with murder case in Rajkot city, the police filed the chargesheet within 40 days. On the other hand, the Rajkot rural police arrested the accused on the day of the incident in the Patanvav case and filed the chargesheets in the Bhayavadar case within 7 days,” he further said.
Harsh Sanghvi congratulated all the officers and employees of the police team investigating these seven cases of Amreli, Vadodara and Rajkot districts and said that the state government will continue to take the strictest action against such crimes to provide justice to the victims.
Under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, the courts in Gujarat have delivered 947 verdicts in POCSO cases in the past three years, with 574 individuals sentenced to life imprisonment and 11 to death.. (ANI)