CUTTACK: A fast track adhoc special protection of children from sexual offences (POCSO) court here on Saturday awarded Rs 5 lakh compensation to a minor girl who was a victim of rape in 2019.Presiding judge Gayadhar Panda awarded the compensation keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case and the age of the victim at the time of occurrence.
The judge awarded the compensation while convicting 52-year-old priest of a temple Braja Kishore Satpathy and betel shop owner Nimai Mandal (53) for raping a nine-year-old girl and sentenced them to 20 years rigorous imprisonment. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 each.
Special public prosecutor Biswajit Ray led the prosecution with 18 witnesses and 36 documents including the medical reports. According to case records, Satpathy took the victim inside the temple where he was the priest and raped her in a room. Mandal had lured the victim to his betel shop and raped her inside it. The two incidents occurred within a gap of few days in September 2019. Both have been under-trial prisoner since their arrest.