Overview

• A special POCSO court in Meghalaya’s Eastern West Khasi Hills district confirmed life imprisonment and ₹50,000 fines for Mebanlang Warjri and Tony Paul Basaiawmoit over their 2017 sexual assault of a minor girl.
• In Jalpaiguri, Judge Rintu Shur sentenced Golam Masud Muhammad to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed ₹100,000 in fines plus ₹500,000 in survivor compensation for the January kidnapping and rape of a 12-year-old.
• Prosecutors in the Jalpaiguri case detailed grooming tactics including intoxicant-laced chocolate and threats to silence the girl after the assault near the Teesta River.
• Investigators in both districts relied on prompt FIR registration, forensic evidence such as a pregnancy test kit and coordinated police action under the POCSO Act to build airtight charges.
• Officials say the stringent sentences are meant to deter child sexual offences but warn that Meghalaya’s backlog of over 1,700 pending POCSO cases and just six special courts will continue to delay justice.