India, June 30 -- A Special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Pune on Monday sentenced 65-year-old Bhimrao Kamble to death for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of a three-and-a-half-year-old girl in Nasrapur village near Pune, a crime that sparked widespread public outrage and protests across Maharashtra.

Special Judge SR. Salunkhe held that the prosecution had established an "unbroken chain of circumstantial and forensic evidence" proving his guilt beyond reasonable doubt, ruling that the case fell squarely within the "rarest of rare" category and ordering that the convict be "hanged till death."

The court observed that the 65-year-old convict was driven by "unbridled lust" and acted with extreme ferocity, le...