Pune Court Hands Death Sentence In Toddler's Murder

Synopsis

In the case of the rape and murder of a three-and-a-half-year-old girl in the village of Nasrapur, Bhor taluka, a Special Court in Pune has given a death sentence to Bhimrao Prabhakar Kamble, 65, who was tried in an unusually speedy manner. Returning a guilty verdict on June 25, Special Judge S.R. Salunkhe was to impose sentence on Monday, June 29.

The Discovery of the Crime and The Solution to the Crime

This transgression took place on May 1, 2026, Maharashtra Day, while the toddler was out on a visit to her grandmother for her summer vacation. The investigation found Kamble was initially able to coerce the child to meet him by promising her food and a newborn calf then taking her to a remote location where he sexually assaulted and killed her.

The post-mortem report showed sexual violence and asphyxia were the cause of death, and found there was evidence that the assault continued after the child's death. Her body was found in a cattle shed, leading to public outrage which briefly turned into a blockage on the Pune-Bengaluru highway.

A Rapid Investigation

The accused had an "unsettling criminal past" with a sexual harassment case in his family involving a minor girl and an attack on an elderly woman, police said.

Pune Rural Police had set up a Special Investigation Team of six officers led by Senior Police Inspector Vijaymala Pawar who were working day and night to gather forensic evidence, medical reports, mobile location data, and the statements of more than 55 witnesses.

The Verdict

The court, as it did in the most serious of crimes in India, invoked that principle and held the nation at a standstill. Kamble, aged 53, had previously assaulted a girl within his family and attacked an elderly woman and this is a "rarest of rare case", the judge said.

The Special Court had handed down three death sentences and three concurrent life terms for the offences of rape, murder and kidnapping along with the provisions of the POCSO Act.

The court pointed out that the murder was inexplicable by the lack of provocation or mitigating circumstances: "The murder was committed as the result of lust, which constitutes total depravity. Judge Salunkhe remarked that it was an unprovoked murder to be sure.

Political and Public Response

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who had directed setting up a fast-track court for the case, termed the verdict "a highly appropriate one" and said "such monsters have absolutely no right to live in society. NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule welcomed the judgement and said that there should be no way to show mercy or parole.