Rourkela: A special Pocso court in Sundargarh on Monday sentenced a 29-year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping and impregnating a minor girl in a case reported in 2019.According to the prosecution, the survivor’s elder brother lodged a complaint at a police station in Sundargarh district on Sept6, 2019, alleging that his 12-year-old sister was five months’ pregnant after being sexually assaulted by the accused. He stated that the girl had been raped when she was alone at home and was threatened with dire consequences if she revealed the incident.Police registered a case under relevant provisions of the IPC and the Pocso Act and subsequently arrested the accused, who has remained in judicial custody during the trial.Delivering the verdict, additional district judge-cum-presiding officer of the Pocso court, Sundargarh, Gyana Ranjan Patnaik, convicted the accused after examining 27 witnesses. The court sentenced him to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000. In default of payment, he will have to undergo an additional year of imprisonment.The court also directed the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), Sundargarh, to provide compensation of Rs 7 lakh to the survivor. Special public prosecutor Prabhat Kumar Nanda represented the prosecution during the trial.
