Baripada: A POCSO court in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district Monday sentenced a 30-year-old man to life imprisonment for raping a 12-year-old girl last year.
POCSO court judge Santosh Kumar Nayak also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the convict, Hemendra Naik. If he fails to pay the amount, he would have to undergo an additional six months in prison, special public prosecutor Manaranjan Pattnaik said.
The court directed the District Legal Services Authority of Mayurbhanj to pay Rs 3 lakh as compensation to the survivor, he said.
The judgment was based on the statements of the girl and nine witnesses, besides the medical report, the public prosecutor said.
The incident took place June 4, 2024, while the minor had gone to a nearby weekly market. Naik lured the girl with chocolate and took her to a lonely place and raped her, police said.
On the basis of a written complaint filed by the survivor’s father, Jashipur police station registered a case under sections of the IPC and POCSO Act and arrested Naik, they said.
PTI
