Baripada/Berhampur: Two separate POCSO courts in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj and Ganjam districts Wednesday convicted two persons to rigorous imprisonment and slapped penalties on them for raping two minor girls.
In Baripada the Mayurbhanj district special POCSO court judge, Sumita Jena sentenced a 41-year-old man to 20 years rigorous imprisonment for raping an 11-year-old.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 13,000 on the convict Ghana Naik and directed the Mayurbhanj district legal services authority (DLSA) to pay Rs four lakh to the rape survivor as compensation.
The minor was raped April 23, 2022 in her house in Dhipasahi village under Badampahad police station when she was alone. An FIR was lodged with the police by her family members and a case was registered under the provisions of the POCSO Act. The man was arrested and sent to police custody.
The judgement was based on the statement of victim, 18 witnesses and the medical report.
In Berhampur, the POCSO court convicted a 35-year-old man and sentenced him to undergo 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a 10-year-old physically challenged girl in a village in Tarsingi police station limits in Ganjam district.
The incident took place December 19, 2016, when the girl was outside her home on her own. The convicted person Purna Chandra Sethi is a farmer in the same village.
The girl’s family lodged a complaint at Tarsingi police station on the same day and Sethi was arrested the next day.
Judge Ganeshwar Pati also slapped a fine of Rs 20,000 on Sethi. In case of non-compliance, he will undergo additional four months’ rigorous imprisonment.
In this case too the POCSO court passed the judgement based on the statements of the witness, 18 witnesses, the police, doctor and the medical report. It directed the DLSA to pay Rs four lakh to the survivor as compensation.
PTI
