UP Couple Sentenced to Death in “Rarest of the Rare” Case for Sexually Assaulting as Many as 33 Male Children; CBI Releases Statement

Key Points:

In a “rarest of the rare” case, a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, sentenced a couple to death for sexually assaulting as many as 33 children. The convicts, Ram Bhawan (50) and his wife Durgawati (47), were awarded the death penalty for various offences under the IPC and the POCSO Act, 2012.

The offences for which the couple were convicted included heinous crimes such as unnatural offences, aggravated penetrative sexual offences, using children for pornographic purposes, storage of pornographic material involving children, abetment, and criminal conspiracy, among others.

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According to reports, Ram Bhawan was a government employee working in Uttar Pradesh’s Irrigation Department. On 20 February 2026, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) issued a press release stating that both the accused had been convicted in a “rarest of the rare” case and sentenced to death.

In October 2020, the CBI registered a case against the couple for sexually assaulting minors, procuring them for pornography, and disseminating child sexual abuse material over the internet.

According to the CBI, it was revealed during the investigation that the accused had “committed acts of perversity, including aggravated penetrative sexual assault against 33 male children, some of them as young as three years of age.”

The investigation also revealed that the victims had suffered “injuries to their private parts during penetrative sexual assault.” It further stated that some of the victims had suffered from a squint eye and psychological trauma.

The trial judge said that because the crime affected many victims across different areas and demonstrated extreme moral cruelty, it was so serious and shocking that the offenders could not be reformed. Therefore, the case was described as “a crime of such an exceptional and heinous nature that it leaves no room for reformation, necessitating the ultimate judicial deterrent to meet the ends of justice.”

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The CBI stated that the convicted junior engineer used to lure children through online video games, money, and gifts, and committed the crimes over a period of more than a decade.

The court also ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to provide each victim with compensation of ₹10 lakh. It further stated that the cash seized from the convicts’ house should be distributed equally among the victims.

The child predators committed the crimes between 2010 and 2020 and were predominantly active in areas such as Banda and Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh. The investigation was completed, and the CBI filed a charge sheet against the couple, Rambhawan and his wife, on February 10, 2021. “The charges were framed by the trial court on May 26, 2023,” the statement said.

[VS]

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