Fastest rape conviction: Man gets life term in one day

One-liner: In one of the fastest trials ever, a POCSO court in Bihar's Araria district has sentenced a man in just one day's proceedings to life term imprisonment for raping an eight-year-old girl.

Swift justice: The verdict is considered the fastest delivered by any POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court in the country.

Fine too: POCSO Court Special Judge also imposed a fine of ₹50,000 on the convict and directed him to pay a compensation of ₹7 lakh for the survivor's rehabilitation.

Order passed on Oct 4: Though the order was passed on Oct 4, the order sheet pertaining to the case was made available on Nov 26.

The incident: The girl was raped on July 22 this year and an FIR was lodged the next day. The case was supervised by Araria women's police station in-charge Rita Kumari.

Fastest trial record: Talking to reporters, POSCO Public Prosecutor said, "The case in Araria was the speediest trial of a rape case in the country. It beat the record of a court in Madhya Pradesh's Datia district that wrapped up in three days a rape trial in Aug 2018."

All in a day: The court fast-tracked the proceedings by recording witnesses, arguments, and counter-arguments; convicting the accused, and issuing the judgment in just one day.

Home dept reacts: Reacting to the verdict, the Directorate of Prosecution of Bihar govt's Home Dept issued a statement saying, "This is perhaps the first case in which punishment has been given in a single day of trial in the country."

Life sentence till last breath: "Before it, in Datia (MP) district, a court had delivered a verdict after three days of trial on Aug 8, 2018. Bihar has now made a national record by conducting a trial in a single day by giving a life sentence to the convict till his last breath," it added.