Odisha: Court awards lifer to man, 20-year jail to his wife in minor kidnap, rape case

A POCSO court in Cuttack on Sunday awarded a life sentence to a man and a 20-year jail term to his wife after convicting the couple in a case involving the kidnap and rape of a 10-year-old girl in Satichoura area under Bidanasi police limits in 2019.

Cuttack: A man was sentenced to imprisonment till death and his wife was sent to jail for 20 years by a court in Odisha’s Cuttack for kidnapping and raping a 10-year-old girl. Amit Bindhani (45) kidnapped the girl from a slum here with the help of his wife Asha Lohar, as per the prosecution.

The couple had taken the girl to Jamshedpur in Jharkhand. There, Amit raped the girl repeatedly for nearly eight days before the couple was apprehended by police and the child rescued, the prosecution said. The incident happened in July 2019.

A POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court on Saturday sentenced Amit to imprisonment till death and his wife Asha to 20 years in jail.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the wife. Failure to pay the fine would result in an additional six months in jail, the order stated.

The court has directed the District Legal Services Authority to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation to the minor girl. Out of the compensation amount, Rs 3 lakh will be a fixed deposit in name of the minor girl and Rs 2 lakh will be given to her parents.

The special court pronounced the verdict on basis of 20 documentary pieces of evidence and statements of 12 witnesses.

Amit Bindhani and his wife Asha Lohar were staying at a flat in an apartment in the Satichoura area in Cuttack on rent, whereas the 10-year-old girl was living in a nearby slum along with her family. On July 18, 2019, the couple kidnapped the minor girl after spiking her food.

(With agency inputs)