Keojhar: A court in Keonjhar on Tuesday sentenced a 35-year-old man to 20 years of imprisonment for raping a minor girl in 2019.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the convict, Makuru Juang, with an additional six-month jail term if he fails to pay the amount. The court also directed the district legal services authority to provide a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the survivor.
According to court documents, Juang visited the school with the girl’s sister-in-law, claiming her brother had summoned her on Feb 1, 2019.
After dropping off the survivor’s sister-in-law, Juang took the minor to a forest, where he sexually assaulted her. He then held her captive at his house, demanding repayment of money allegedly borrowed by her brother. The girl was rescued after her parents alerted the school principal, who then informed the police. Following a written complaint from the girl’s family, police arrested Juang.
Special prosecutor Gyanendra Nath Jena said, “The conviction was based on statements from 21 witnesses and police investigation reports.”