3 min readLucknowFeb 21, 2026 08:30 AM IST
A special POSCO court in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda district on Friday awarded the death penalty to a suspended junior engineer of the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department for sexually abusing several young children and circulating pornographic material involving them online. His wife has also been sentenced to death in the same case.
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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which registered the case in October 2020, had arrested Ram Bhawan (48), who hails from Banda, in November that year. He has been lodged in jail since. His wife, Durgawati, was arrested a month later.
On Wednesday, the court found Ram Bhawan and Durgawati (45) guilty in the case lodged under IPC Section 377 (unnatural offences) and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the IT Act. Both were also convicted for criminal conspiracy.
Durgawati, who was out on bail, was taken into custody.
On Friday, husband and wife were produced before the Banda court under tight police security for the pronouncement of sentence.
“Special Judge Pradeep Kumar Mishra awarded the death penalty to Ram Bhawan and Durgawati, observing that the case falls within the ‘rarest of rare’ category,” said Banda government counsel Kamal Singh.
Government counsel Singh said the prosecution examined 74 witnesses during the trial, including 25 victims. “During the investigation, the agency recovered 34 videos and 678 photographs of the victims,” Singh said.
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He stated that Ram Bhawan had been posted in Hamirpur, Banda and Chitrakoot districts, and was arrested from Chitrakoot — his last posting.
Defence counsel Bhura Prasad Nishad said, “We will file an appeal against the judgment.” He said the court also ordered the confiscation of Rs 8.27 lakh in cash recovered from Ram Bhawan’s residence during the probe. He further stated the CBI had conducted the medical examination of the victims in Delhi.
According to the prosecution, the CBI arrested Ram Bhawan following sustained surveillance. The agency also arrested his wife alleging her involvement in his activities. Durgawati, the prosecution said, threatened witnesses and hid evidence of her husband’s crimes.
The CBI’s case
The CBI had alleged Ram Bhawan sexually abused children in Banda, Chitrakoot and adjoining areas for a decade and had targeted at least 50 minors, recording the acts and selling the videos and photos on social media platforms and the darknet.
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During searches conducted at his residence, investigators had recovered cash, along with mobile phones, laptops, a web camera, electronic storage devices including pen drives and memory cards, and other incriminating material.
The central probe agency had said examination of the accused’s email accounts revealed he was allegedly in regular contact with several persons, both Indian and foreign nationals, for the purpose of sharing Child Sexual Abuse Material (CASM).
