Kendrapara: A local court in Odisha’s Kendrapara district Tuesday sentenced a 70 year-old-man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment after finding the septuagenarian guilty of raping a nine-year-old minor girl last year.
The Additional District Judge cum Special Judge Kendrapara also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict Batakrushna Sahoo.
By default, his sentence will be increased by a year.
The court has also directed the Odisha State Legal Services Authority (OSLSA) to pay a compensation of Rs 6 lakh to the victim, said Manoj Kumar Sahu, prosecution counsel.
The victim girl was a student of standard 3 in a village school under the jurisdiction of the Pattamundai police station.
The accused had allegedly threatened the victim not to confide his sexual assault to her parents.
He was convicted under sections 65 (Rape on a woman under sixteen years of age) and 331 (house-trespass or house-breaking) of BNS and section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act, 2012.
Judge Pragyan Paramita Roul pronounced the judgment after relying on the evidence of seven witnesses, including the victim girl and the medico-legal report, said Manoj Kumar Sahu, prosecution counsel.
PTI
