Sambalpur: A day after a local court handed down life imprisonment to five persons after convicting them of raping a minor girl under Sasan police limits here, the family of the victim, who had committed suicide following the incident, fled the village fearing backlash Sunday.
The court of additional district judge Udaya Bhanu Jena passed the order within 12 days of submission of the chargesheet by police. The court proceedings that began in the morning went on till 10pm. This is the first time in judicial history of the state that a court passed the order within a month of the incident.
Fearing public shame after the gangrape, the victim committed suicide May 23. Meanwhile, the family members were learnt to have fled their home. Reliable sources, however, said the police have housed the family at a hotel in Sambalpur.
The judge sentenced Afzal Raja (23), Tinu Sahu (23), Hadu Panchabihar (24), Abhilash Panchabihar (26) and Ashirbad Behera (26) to life imprisonment under relevant sections of the IPC and Sections 4 and 5 of the POCSO Act. The sixth accused, a minor, was produced in a juvenile court and sent to a correction home.
The minor girl had gone to a local market in the evening of May 2. While she was returning home, a boy of her school engaged her in a friendly conversation. Then, he dragged the girl to the verandah of a nearby school and raped her. Two local youths passing by the area saw the girl with the boy and threatened her to make this public.
Later, the two forcibly took the girl on their bike and raped her in a secluded place. Then, three friends of these two youths arrived at the place and raped her in turns.
PNN