Berhampur: A POCSO court in Berhampur Friday sentenced a 59-year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for having unnatural sex with a 16-year-old boy about two years ago in Berhampur, a government advocate said.
Pranati Pattnaik, the additional district judge-cum-judge of the POCSO court, also imposed a Rs 10,000 fine on the convict, who is a distant relative of the victim, special public prosecutor Narayan Panda said.
The accused will undergo jail for an additional year if he fails to pay the fine, he said.
The court also directed the district legal services authority (DLSA) to pay Rs 50,000 compensation to the victim, he said, adding that the entire fine amount will also be paid to the teen after recovery.
The court pronounced the judgment after examining the statements of nine witnesses, including police, doctor and medical reports, Panda added.
According to the prosecution, the convict forcibly had an unnatural sex with the minor boy after inviting him to his home February 17, 2023.
He had committed the crime with the boy on the first floor of the house, while his family members were on the ground floor, the prosecution said.
The matter came to light when the victim told his mother about the incident after he fell sick. His mother lodged an FIR the next day at Baidyanathpur police station.
He was arrested the same day under different sections of the IPC and POCSO Act.
Since his arrest he has been in jail as his bail pleas were rejected by the court earlier, the special public prosecutor added.
PTI
