SIMDEGA: A Jharkhand court has sentenced a 56-year-old man to 25 years of imprisonment for raping a 16-year-old girl in Simdega district last year.
Additional District Judge (1), Neeraj Kumar Srivastav, pronounced the judgment on Wednesday after convicting Stanilus Bah under sections of the POCSO Act and the IPC.
A fine of Rs 60,000 was also imposed on the convict.
He will have to undergo a jail term of another year if he fails to pay the fine, Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Subhas Prasad said.
On October 26, 2018, the mother of the 16-year-old girl registered a police complaint with the Jaldega Police Station, accusing Bah of raping her daughter four to five months before the complaint was lodged.
In her complaint, she said the man used to threaten her daughter of dire consequences if she revealed the incident to anyone.
During investigation it was found that Bah, who owned a grocery store, used to lure the girl with biscuits and snacks before raping her.
She later became pregnant and gave birth to a child.
The DNA sample of the baby matched with that of Bah, Prasad said.