Kendrapara: Additional District & Sessions Judge-cumSpecial Judge (POCSO) court of Kendrapara Pranati Patnaik has sentenced a sexagenarian to 20 years of Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) for raping a 12-year-old girl. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 on the convict for his involvement in raping a minor girl, said Manoj Kumar Sahoo, the Special Public Prosecutor of the Special Judge (POCSO) Court of Kendrapara, Friday.
According to the prosecution, the mother of the victim lodged an FIR at Kendrapara Sadar police station May 19, alleging that while her daughter was returning from the shop, accused Prahallad Behera called her, offered bananas and fruits, and raped her.
The accused threatened to kill her daughter if she disclosed the matter to anyone. The minor girl later disclosed the matter to her mother. The Sadar police later registered a case against the accused under Section 376(2)(n), 376-AB, 506 of the IPC, Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and arrested him. While adjudicating the case the judge sentenced the man to 20 years RI and a fine of Rs 3,000 after verifying the evidence and hearing the testimony of witnesses.
The judge further ordered that, in default of the fine amount, the convict would undergo RI for another six months. The court also directed that the entire fine amount of Rs 3000 be paid to the victim after recovery as per the provision under Section 357(1) of CrPC, Special Public Prosecutor Manoj Kumar Sahoo said.
