# Death penalty sought for 5 in 2024 Bhayli gang rape case 2026-08-25T23:20:44+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet The prosecution on Tuesday sought the death penalty or, alternatively, life imprisonment for five men convicted of gang-raping a 16-year-old girl during the Navratri festival in Vadodara's Bhayli area in October 2024. District government pleader Anil Desai told the court that the maximum punishment was sought given the manner of the offence. The defence argued for minimum punishment, saying the convicts were married with families. The Vadodara POCSO court fixed August 31 to pronounce the sentence. The five convicts, Munna Abbas Banjara, Mumtaz alias Aftab Banjara, Shahrukh Banjara, Saif Ali Banjara and Ajmal Banjara, were convicted on August 20. The prosecution examined 45 witnesses and relied on CCTV footage and medical evidence during the trial. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The demand for the death penalty under the POCSO Act is rare and reserved for the 'rarest of rare' cases, as the Supreme Court has held. The court's sentencing decision on August 31 will test how that threshold applies to a gang rape with no murder, the victim survived. The convicts, all in their early twenties and working as labourers, face either execution, life imprisonment, or a fixed term. The judge's reasoning on proportionality will set a benchmark for similar POCSO cases in Gujarat. ## Coverage - hindustantimes.com Straight news-agency style report with no discernible slant, presenting prosecution and defence arguments. This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Anil Desai, Bhayli gang rape, POCSO court, Vadodara Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/death-penalty-sought-for-5-in-2024-bhayli-gang-rape-case/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/death-penalty-sought-for-5-in-2024-bhayli-gang-rape-case/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/