CUTTACK: A 39-year-old man was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 20 years by a special POCSO
Court in Cuttack on Friday after convicting him of raping a five-year-old girl in June last year. The incident had taken place on June 7, 2025.
The father of the victim reported the offence at a police station in Cuttack city the same day, alleging that the accused committed the illicit act with her five-year-old daughter when she was playing with her friends.
The accused was arrested on June 8 and had since been an under trial prisoner.
While pronouncing the sentence, presiding judge Himansu Sekhar Singh ruled, “Considering the aforesaid settled position of law and evidence on record, the prosecution is found to have established beyond reasonable doubt that the victim was very much less than 12 years of age at the time of occurrence and the accused had committed sexual act upon her... so as to enrobe him with offence u/s 65(2) of BNS r/w section 6 of POCSO Act.”
The trial court also imposed on the convict a fine of Rs 20,000 failing which he would have to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for one year.
The additional district judge recommended the case of the victim to the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) for granting compensation of Rs 4 lakh as per Odisha Victim Compensation Scheme.
Special public prosecutors (POCSO) Krushna Chandra Mohapatra presented the case for the prosecution with 12 witnesses and 36 documents including the medical report. Advocate Monika Samal represented the accused.