A 28-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years in jail by a court in Odisha’s Balasore district on Friday for raping a mentally challenged girl.
A fine of Rs 10,000 was also imposed on the man by the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) court of special judge Ranjan Kumar Sutar.
The man was arrested in March last year after a police complaint was filed by an NGO, which got to know about the 14-year-old girl after she got pregnant, the prosecution said.
The complaint was lodged after the girl narrated the horror to activists of the NGO during counselling sessions. The accused is a neighbour of the girl.
The name of the convict is also being withheld in this report to protect the identity of the survivor who lives in the same village.
“The police arrested the accused after an investigation. The court pronounced the verdict on the basis of 10 witnesses and 20 exhibits,” said Special Public Prosecutor Pranab Kumar Panda.
The court also directed the district legal services authority (DLSA) to give the survivor Rs 4 lakh as compensation, Panda said.
