Berhampur: A special POCSO court in Bhubaneswar on Friday sentenced a 26-year-old man to life in jail after convicting him in the sexual assault and mu*der of a four-year-old boy three years ago.
Additional District Judge (ADJ)-cum-judge of the special court under the POCSO Act, Pranati Pattnaik, sentenced Sukant Sethi to life imprisonment and also imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on him and ordered an additional one-year jail term in default, special public prosecutor Narayan Panda said.
The court also directed the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to pay Rs 2 lakh to the parents of the deceased, considering the gravity of offence and the severity of mental harm suffered by them.
The court pronounced the judgment after recording the statements of 17 witnesses, including police and doctor and based on medical reports, Panda added.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place on the roof of a house on January 24, 2023. Both the convict and the victim belonged to the same village under Dharakote police station area. The convict was a distant relative of the victim, they said.
Police in its chargesheet said the accused killed the boy by thrashing him against an iron door after sexually assaulting him, fearing that the victim might reveal the incident to others, officials said.
The boy’s father had lodged a complaint in Dharakote police station on January 24 and the accused was arrested a day after under different sections of the IPC and POCSO Act. He has been in jail since his arrest as his bail plea was rejected by the court earlier, Panda added.
PTI