A Pocso court in Lucknow on Tuesday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for abducting, sexually assaulting and murdering a five-year-old boy at Charbagh railway station in December 2024. The court also imposed a fine of ₹1.65 lakh on the convict.

The court also imposed a fine of ₹1.65 lakh on the convict. (For representation)

The court of the special judge, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, convicted Mohammad Ibrahim, 26, a resident of Mahmudabad in Sitapur district, in the case registered at Government Railway Police (GRP) station in Charbagh under sections 137(2), 103(1) and 212 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), besides sections 5/6 of the Pocso Act and Section 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

According to the GRP, the child had arrived at Charbagh railway station from Rajasthan with his mother on December 15, 2024. Ibrahim allegedly befriended the boy, offered him food and lured him away from his mother. The police said he subsequently took the child to the railway yard, where he sexually assaulted and killed him.

The child’s mother had initially lodged a case under section 137(2) of the BNS after finding her son missing from the station. The GRP subsequently arrested Ibrahim and, during the investigation, added charges relating to murder, aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the Pocso Act and the SC/ST Act. A charge sheet was later filed before the court.

The GRP said the conviction was secured after the prosecution presented key witnesses and scientific and other evidence before the court. The sentence was secured under the police department’s “Operation Conviction”, which is aimed at ensuring effective prosecution and conviction in criminal cases, officials said.

The case had earlier drawn attention after the child’s mother alleged that the GRP could have acted more promptly after she reported her son missing from the station.