55-year-old sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping teenager

Kendrapara: A 55-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in Kendrapara district, Odisha, for raping a teenager.

The special POCSO court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict and ordered him to serve an additional two years in prison if he fails to comply.

The incident occurred in July 2021. In the police complaint, the survivor’s mother claimed that he was taken to a cowshed in a remote location and raped by the convict.

While delivering the verdict on Thursday, the court also directed the Odisha state law department to pay compensation of Rs 500,000 to the 14-year-old boy, special public prosecutor Manoj Kumar Sahu said.

The court convicted the accused under Section 377 (unnatural offences including sexual relations deemed to be unnatural) of the IPC and Section 6 (aggravated sexual assault by penetration) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

Ten witnesses, including the boy, testified in court.