A fast-track court in Gujarat on Thursday sentenced a migrant labourer to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a 14-month-old girl in September last year, PTI reported. The incident had led to violence against migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which forced over 60,000 Hindi-speaking people to leave Gujarat.

The girl was raped at a village near Himmatnagar in Sabarkantha district on September 28. Ravindra Sah, a 19-year-old factory worker, was arrested the same day. The Gujarat High Court had set up a fast-track court to try the case after a request from the state government.

Sabarkantha Sessions court judge KB Gujarati sentenced Sah to 20 years in prison considering his age. Special public prosecutor Rashmikant Pandya, who had sought the death penalty, said he will ask for the state government’s approval to file an appeal in the High Court for enhancement of the punishment.

Sah was found guilty under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act as well as the newly-introduced section 376-AB of the Indian Penal Code, which provides for the maximum punishment of death for raping children.