PUNE: A special fast track court in Pune on Thursday held Bhimrao Kamble (65), a casual worker, guilty of kidnapping, rape and murder of a three-year-old girl on May 1 at Nasrapur in Bhor taluka of the district.Special judge S R Salunkhe will pronounce a sentence on June 29 after assessing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, which were put forth by the state and the defence lawyers on Thursday. “The court now has to decide whether to pronounce a death sentence or life imprisonment,” special public prosecutor Ajay Misar said.“We have sought capital punishment by submitting that the case falls within the ambit of the rarest of rare case as defined by the Supreme Court (SC) and have given 12 landmark SC rulings in support of such submission,” Misar told TOI outside the courtroom that was packed with a large number of lawyers, litigants and visitors curious about the judgment.A thick blanket of security was thrown around the court room as the accused was produced before the judge around 11am for the pronouncement of verdict. Superintendent of Police (Pune Rural) Sandeep Singh Gill and other senior officers were present.While a full text of the judgment is expected to be issued after the sentencing on June 29, the court, while pronouncing Kamble guilty, observed that the accused deserved no leniency considering the brutality involved and nature of crime. The last seen theory and the entire chain of circumstances established beyond doubt by the prosecution, are the two prime factors that led the court to hold the accused guilty, judge Salunkhe said.The judge also referred to Kamble’s previous history of sexual crimes and noted that throughout the trail in the present case, the accused showed no remorse, whatsoever, on his face.Prosecutor Misar told TOI, “All the charges applied by the prosecution stand entirely proved. This includes, kidnapping, molestation, rape and murder under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and sections 4 (penetrative sexual assault), 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault), 8 (sexual assault) and 12 (sexual harassment) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.”Landmark RulingThe Pune court’s ruling is landmark development considering that it came within 40 days of the Pune Rural police filing a chargesheet and within 55 days of the incident that shook Maharashtra considering the brutal manner in which the three-year-old girl was raped and murdered by the elderly accused, who also had a past record of sexual crimes.The incident sparked an outrage and an impromptu protest on the night of May 1 when angry citizens blocked the Pune-Bengaluru highway for several hours before the police managed to convince them to disperse.The girl’s family, well-wishers and people in general have been demanding a capital punishment. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis too responded by declaring that the accused would be tried before a fast-track court and appointed Misar as a special public prosecutor.The police filed a chargesheet in the case within 15 days, and the prosecution gave a list of 82 witnesses for examination during the trial. The court framed the charges on May 28, and an in-camera trial was conducted on a day-to-day basis before the final arguments from either side that concluded on June 21. The accused was provided with legal aid defence counsel (LADC) as per the court’s direction as no independent lawyer was willing to take his case.The CaseThe three-year-old girl from Pune had come to her grandmother’s house in Nasrapur for summer vacation. On May 1, she was playing outside her grandmother’s home when the accused lured her to a nearby cowshed on the pretext of showing her a newborn calf. He then allegedly raped and killed her before hiding the body in the cowshed.The girl’s family started searching for her when she did not return home until late afternoon. Her body was found in the cowshed during this search. In the ensuing police investigation, the police recovered CCTV footage, which showed accused Kamble leading the girl to the cowshed. The villagers then apprehended him and handed him over to the police.
