New Delhi: “This court must keep its senses alive to hear the last scream of the child which was loud enough, recorded in audio-video CCTV camera,” said S. R. Salunkhe, special judge (POCSO), Pune, Monday, while ordering convict Bhimrao Prabhakar Kamble to be hanged by neck till his death.
The court said, “This court shall perceive by its senses, 18 injuries inflicted on that small child. This court shall perceive by its senses, the suffering of the child when she was being sexually assaulted and her leggings were stuffed 21 cm deep into her mouth. This court shall perceive by its senses, that CCTV footage, wherein that innocent child walks her small steps happily with the accused reposing trust in him.”
The sentencing comes after Bhimrao Prabhakar Kamble, 65, was convicted for kidnapping, murder, rape of a three-year-old girl in Pune. He killed her and concealed her body under an empty gunny bag to be disposed of at a convenient time. Kamble is originally from village Salwade, Bhor, Pune. He has seven daughters and a son. Pune Police’s investigation revealed he had multiple cases of sexual harassment against him.
The deceased child’s family is from Dhayari, Pune. The two daughters, 3 and 6, would go to their ancestral home in Nasrapur, which is situated by the side of the Mumbai-Bengaluru National Highway, occasionally and during the holidays.
Kamble was living in Nasrapur village, working for daily wages by feeding a neighbour’s cows. On 1 May, when Kamble did not show up for work, he was sacked. He was sitting on the steps of a temple, while the victim was playing with other children on the temple premises.
Crime in the cowshed
One of the children sat on the motorcycle in front of the temple and Kamble got annoyed and started pelting bricks at the children, so they left. Around 4 pm, the 3-year-old’s grandmother noticed she was missing.
Police and residents reviewed the CCTV footage and found the accused was last seen taking the victim to a nearby cowshed. When interrogated, he admitted to raping and murdering the child. Police took him to Rajgad police station.
Villagers found the child’s body under a gunny bag. “Her leggings were gagged into her mouth and some white substance had come out of her nose. There were injuries on her face, chest, private parts and blood clots near her anus,” said Pune Police’s investigation.
The evidence collected
Pune Police’s record of evidence includes CCTV footage of the accused entering and exiting the cowshed and statements from villagers—including family members and neighbours. However, no one saw the actual assault.
The police’s case also relied on medical and forensic reports, which said the cause of death “asphyxia due to combined effects of smothering and gagging, associated with blunt trauma to chest (homicidal assault), with evidence of recent act of sexual assault in terms of vaginal penetration, anal penetration and seminal discharge over body.” The postmortem showed 18 injuries caused by hard and blunt objects.
Circumstantial evidence
The court said there is concrete evidence adduced by the prosecution regarding the sexual assaults from Kamble’s DNA.
“All witnesses have unanimously stated that the accused and the victim were found together at about 3.12 pm on 01/05/2026 proceeding towards the tin shed and at about 3.51 pm, the accused came out alone and went towards the public water tank. There was time gap of 39 minutes (between the entry and exit from the cow shed),” the investigation showed.
The court said, medical evidence showed she was brutally raped and killed. There was evidence of an attempted sexual assault even after her death. The forensic evidence confirmed the attacker’s DNA on the victim.
Submissions made
Special Public Prosecutor Ajay Misar submitted to the court notes on the dates and sequence of events on 1 May. He also stated that the electronic evidence (CCTV) showed the victim and attacker together at 3.12 pm and him alone at 3.51 pm. Kamble’s failure to provide a plausible explanation of the victim’s whereabouts lent credence to the last seen theory.
Vipul Dushing, advocate for the informants, added: “Past history of this accused—brutality, thrust of lust and inhuman crimes—bars the accused from his right to remain in society and because of his behaviour, his family has abandoned him.”
‘Rarest of rare cases’
The court observed: “The motive for commission of murder, satisfaction of lust of the accused was the only motive and the victim was killed for that motive. So, the motive of the accused is the sufficient test to qualify him for death sentence.”
“The legislature has discharged its function by enacting laws providing the most stringent punishments ever possible. It is time for courts to enforce those punishments stringently, according to seriousness of the crime. The deterrence shall not remain on paper, it shall reflect from the field,” said the court.
Before passing the sentence, the judge also observed, “I must put on record the striving efforts of police to collect the material, continuously engaging in the investigation day and night, with nice coordination among them.”
Further, court said, “The brutality of the crime, the manner in which it was committed and inhuman behaviour of the accused with a child of three years takes away from thinking of any alternative to death sentence. The possibility of awarding life imprisonment, which is the normal rule, is unquestionably foreclosed in this case. This case will definitely come under the category of rarest of the rare cases.”
(Edited by Viny Mishra)