BALASORE: The POCSO court of Balasore on Monday awarded a 28-year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a minor girl last year.
Special Judge, POCSO court, Rajan Kumar Sutar slapped a fine of `5,000 on the convict Ajay Behera of Khantapada area. Failure of which would result an additional jail term of two years. The sentence was pronounced based on the statements of 18 witnesses and medical documents.
The incident took place on May 30, 2023, when the victim went to the shop of the accused to buy chocolate. Finding her alone in the shop, he committed the offence.
After the girl returned home, she narrated the entire ordeal before her parents.
The parents of the victim then lodged an FIR in Khantapada police station on the day. A case was registered under POCSO Act and the accused was arrested the next day.
The public prosecutor Pranab Kumar Panda said considering the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case the court issued an order to the secretary of district legal service Authority to provide a compensation of `4 lakh to the victim.