A POCSO court here on Friday convicted a 60-year-old man after finding him guilty of raping a minor girl and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment (RI) of 14 years and slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on the convict. In case the convict fails to pay the fine, he shall undergo RI for another six months, the court said. The court also directed the District Legal Services Authority to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakhs to the rape victim, who is an orphan andhelpless girl.
Giving details of the case history, Special Public
Prosecutor Ramesh Chandra Mohanty informed that the District Childline had received information on November 23, 2014 that the girl was raped. The Childline rescued the girl and lodged an FIR with the Mahila Police. The police during investigation arrested accused Ajay Samal.
Adjudicating the case and examining as many as 10 witnesses and 11 documents, the court found Samal guilty under Section 6 of the POCSO Act.
The court also set off the pre-conviction detection period of the convict as a UTP as per the provisions of CrPC against the substantive sentence awarded after conviction.