Bhubaneswar: A special POCSO court here Tuesday convicted a man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for abducting and raping a 17-year-old girl a year ago.
Saroj Kumar Sahoo, Ad hoc additional sessions judge, POCSO court, pronounced the verdict after examining 12 witnesses and 71 documents, a government advocate said.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the 25-year-old convict. In case of non-payment, he would undergo an additional three months in jail, he said.
The man had abducted the victim July 11, 2024 from her house on the pretext of marrying her with the consent of her parents, police said.
He then forced the girl to have physical relations several times against her will, they said.
She subsequently managed to escape and filed a complaint at Mancheswar police station, September 24 last year.
The police registered a case and arrested the man September 27, 2024.
