By PTI
Published : Apr 24, 2024, 8:01 PM IST
Berhampur (Odisha): A POCSO court in Odisha's Ganjam district on Wednesday sentenced two men to 30 years of rigorous imprisonment each for raping a 15-year-old girl last year.
Prabhat Kumar Rajguru, judge of a special POCSO court in Berhampur, also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on the two convicts, who hailed from the same village as that of the survivor in Bhanjanagar police station area of Ganjam district, special public prosecutor Narayan Panda said.
The convicts, aged 35 and 25 years, will undergo an additional six months in prison if they fail to pay the fine amount. The court also recommended the payment of Rs 12 lakh as compensation to the survivor through the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), he said.
The incident took place on January 19 last year when the girl was returning from a threshing yard. The convicts abducted her and took her to a nearby jungle, where they took turns to rape her.
According to the prosecution, police had registered a case against the accused persons under different sections of IPC and POCSO Act on January 20 last year at Bhanjanagar police station after a complaint was lodged by the survivor against the duo. Police arrested the duo the same day and they have been in judicial custody.