JAGATSINGHPUR: A 40-year-old man was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment on Wednesday for molesting a minor dalit girl at a cyclone shelter on November 1, 2013. The court also imposed a fine of `10,000 on the convict Sagar Swain of Atamula village in Tirtol block.
Sources said during the cyclonic storm Phailin, nearly 20 families of Katilo and Atamula under Kostimallikapur panchayat had taken shelter at Swapneswar Nodal Primary school which was the evacuation centre. After the cyclone receded, all the families except two left the centre.
The families of Harekrushna Swain and Nityananda Patra stayed back at the school as their houses, which were completely damaged during the cyclone, were not yet repaired.
During their stay, Harekrushna’s son Sagar forcibly took an 11-year-old dalit girl to an isolated place and tried to rape her. The victim girl, a student of Class VI, was going to school when Sagar committed the crime. After the girl raised an alarm, Sagar got terrified and fled the spot. Following the incident, the victim’s uncle lodged an FIR with police and Sagar was arrested.