BHUBANESWAR: A special court in Odisha on Friday awarded life imprisonment to a 30-year-old man for raping his six-year-old niece, the first such conviction in the State after the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance, 2018 came into force stipulating death penalty or life-term for rape of girl below 12 years.
The Special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Court at Balasore charged the accused Banthu Marandi guilty of committing the heinous act on the child on May 9 this year and awarded the sentence. Judge Ajanta Sadangi also imposed a fine of `10,000 on the convict and ordered additional four months of rigorous imprisonment in case of default of payment. Marandi, a resident of Srikona Adivasi Sahi within Chandipur police limits, had raped the victim, his niece, at his house taking advantage of the absence of other family members.
Neighbours came to the victim’s rescue after hearing her screams and informed police. Subsequently, the accused was arrested and sent to judicial custody after his bail plea was rejected. Special Public Prosecutor Pranab Panda said the victim was staying with her maternal uncle Marandi following death of her mother in 2015. “A month after death of her newborn brother, her mother succumbed to health complications. Days after the twin tragedies, her father left home deserting the girlchild. Since then, she was residing with her uncle,” he said. While charge-sheet for the case was filed on May 21 and trial started on June 26, the process was completed in 111 days.
The accused was tried under Sections 376 (AB), 376 (f) (k) (n) of IPC and Section 6 of POCSO Act. The court examined 12 witnesses including the investigating officer, 26 documents and six material objects before pronouncing the judgment. Additional DG of Crime Branch Santosh Kumar Upadhyay had declared it a ‘Red Flag Case’ (heinous crime against a woman to be dealt with top priority) and Balasore SP Jugal Kishore Banoth was asked to supervise the investigation. “Since it was a red flag case, the charge-sheet was filed within 12 days in accordance with the provisions enjoined under the new Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance,” the SP said.