The special POCSO court in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, delivered a historic ruling that brought major changes to the judicial system when it granted the death sentence to Ram Bhawan, a former government junior engineer, and his wife, Durgawati.
The couple faced charges of running a ten-year period of violent sexual abuse, which involved 33 underage boys, including three-year-old children.
Their operation extended beyond local boundaries because investigators discovered they maintained a huge digital network that contained over 200000 child abuse videos and photographs, which they distributed through the dark web to customers in 47 different nations.
Judge Pradeep Kumar Mishra classified the case as “rarest of rare” because of its extreme wickedness, which resulted in the complete destruction of innocent human lives.
Global Digital Trafficking and Dark Web Operations
The case demonstrates a disturbing trend in cybercrime because the offenders used hidden online channels to make money from their violent crimes.
The couple built an international buying network that spread across almost 50 countries by creating more than 200000 digital files. After Interpol detected suspicious behavior, the CBI found a high-tech “torture hub” that operated from a residential home.
The organization created an enormous amount of material that demonstrated their planned industrial method of exploitation that reached beyond established physical limits.
Systemic Exploitation and the “Rarest of Rare” Jurisprudence
The court’s decision to impose capital punishment originates from the continuous nature of the abuse, which lasted between 2010 and 2020.
The couple used video games and snacks and small gifts to attract children who came from financially struggling families they planned to groom into a pattern of continuous emotional distress. The medical records from AIIMS Delhi proved that the victims sustained permanent severe physical damage, while their psychological condition was described as without possibility of recovery.
The judiciary established a strict legal standard for crimes against children by imposing the death penalty and awarding each survivor ₹10 lakh because severe moral corruption leads to permanent character damage.
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