BHUBANESWAR: A 57-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment by a POCSO court for raping his minor daughter in 2018.
The ad hoc additional sessions judge, Fast Track Special Court (POCSO), Bhubaneswar also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on C Siba Patra of Golasahi village in Ganjam and an additional one year of rigorous imprisonment if he failed to pay.
As per sources, Patra along with his wife and two minor daughters, aged 10 and 12 years, was staying in a single-room house in one of the slums of the capital city. His pregnant wife was admitted to the Capital Hospital for delivery on April 6, 2018, and had to stay there for some more days owing to
post-delivery complications.
On April 16 night, Patra sexually abused his 10-year-old daughter at his house. Crying out of pain, the minor narrated the incident to her elder sister when she woke up at around 1.30 am. The latter also found their father, the convict, sleeping naked.
Soon after coming to know of the matter, the relatives complained to the police the next morning and Patra was arrested. The minor girls, on the other hand, were sent to a shelter home after being produced before the Child Welfare Committee.