Balasore:

A 33-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years in jail by a court in Odisha’s Balasore district on Monday for raping a girl.

Special judge of POCSO court Ranjan Kumar Sutar also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the convict and in default, he has to undergo another two years in jail.

The incident happened in September last year in the Marine police station area. The convict lured the girl with chocolate when she was playing outside his house, Special Public Prosecutor Pranab Panda said.

He took her to an isolated place surrounded by dense casuarinas trees and raped her.

The girl’s mother, after learning about the incident, lodged a complaint with the police, and the man was arrested.

The accused was tried and convicted under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and IPC Section 376 AB, which deals with rape of a girl under 12 years.

The court pronounced the verdict after examining 16 witnesses and 20 exhibits, said Mr Panda.

It also ordered Rs 4 lakh compensation for the survivor to be paid through the district legal services authority.

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