Elderly man gets 20-yr RI for raping 9-yr-old girl | Bhubaneswar News

Kendrapada: Additional district-cum-special judge (Pocso), Kendrapada, on Tuesday sentenced a 70-year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a 9-year-old girl in Nov 2024.Judge Pragyan Paramita Roul also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict, a neighbour of the girl. Failure to pay the fine would result in another year of imprisonment.Special public prosecutor Manoj Kumar Sahu said the verdict was based on testimonies from seven witnesses, including the survivor, and medical reports. The court also directed the Odisha State Legal Services Authority (OSLSA) to provide compensation of Rs 6 lakh to the girl, who was then a Class III student.The crime came to light when the survivor’s mother filed an FIR on Nov 29, 2024, alleging that the man had raped her daughter the previous evening when she was alone at home. The elderly man had allegedly threatened to kill the girl if she revealed the incident to anyone.Police arrested the man under sections 65 (rape on a woman under 16 years of age) and 331 (house trespass or house-breaking) of BNS, along with Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.