India, Feb. 21 -- A special court in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, ruled there was no chance of reformation if jail alone was awarded to a couple who sexually abused and filmed more than 30 children to sell the videos online. Judge Pradeep Kumar Mishra, delivering the sentence on February 20, thus directed that Ram Bhavan, a former junior engineer with the state government, and his wife Durgawati be "hanged till death".

The court categorised the case as falling within the "rarest of rare" bracket necessary for death penalty, citing the extreme scale and duration of the offences, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

The judge observed that the calculated nature of the crimes left "no room for reformation" and ...