POCSO Court Awards 20 Yrs Jail Term To Youth For Rape Of Minor, Orders Rs 5L Aid For Survivor 

A special POCSO (protection of children from sexual offences) court in Cuttack has sentenced a youth to undergo 20 years imprisonment after convicting him for the abduction and rape of a minor girl in 2015.

The court found Rakesh Mohanty, a resident of Badambadi area, guilty of abducting and raping the minor girl and pronounced the verdict. Apart from the imprisonment, the court also slapped a penalty of Rs 25,000 on the convict. 

Failure to pay the fine will invite additional imprisonment of six months, the court said in its order.

The court also ordered payment of a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the survivor.

On February 4, 2015, the convict had allegedly abducted the minor girl and took her to Puri where he raped her inside a lodge. The survivor managed the escape from the lodge the next day and approached the Mahila police. 

Acting on the complaint, the police had launched a probe and arrested the accused.

It can be mentioned here that Odisha has witnessed a spurt in crimes against women, MoS Dibya Shankar Mishra said in the Assembly.

As per the Minister, as many as 11,763 rape cases were registered in the State in the last four years, from 2018 to 2021. 

While 2,502 rape cases were registered in the State in 2018, the figure went up to 2,950 in 2019, 2,984 in 2020 and 3,327 in 2021.