A POCSO Court in Sundargarh district on Monday awarded 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI) to a person for raping a minor girl seven years ago.
The court also directed the convict Bhandari Soreng of the Kutra area in the district to pay a fine of Rs 2,000.
Additional District Judge (POCSO) Mahendra Kumar Sutradhar pronounced the judgement based on the testimony of 19 witnesses.
Bhandari and his younger brother, who is a juvenile, were accused of raping the victim in March 2016, when she was alone at her house.
The matter came to fore when the girl suddenly fell ill following which the family lodged a complaint at the Kutra police station on March 22, 2016.
Based on the complaint, Kutra police arrested accused Bhandari and forwarded him to the court. The other accused, who was minor, was forwarded to the Juvenile Court.
The court also ordered the District Legal Services Authority to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the rape victim.