Six sentenced to 20-yr jail term for raping minor girl

A court here sentenced six men to 20-year jail term each for raping a minor girl four years ago.

Special POCSO court of Additional District Judge Loknath Sahu also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each on the six for convicts, stipulating an additional one-year imprisonment if they fail to pay the fine.

Public Prosecutor Ganesh Prasad Mohapatra said the case dated back to November 6, 2015, when the six raped the nine-year-old girl after finding her alone in her house in Sidingbasti area under Barbil police station limit.

The six convicts are Bulu Patra, Jhandu Munda, Sani Mahakud, Bharat Hesa, Sriram Oram and Manoj Nayak, all in their early twenties, said Mohapatra.

The police arrested them on a complaint by the victim's family and sent them up for trial under various section of the Indain Penal Code and and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

The court pronounced its judgement on the basis of deposition by 15 prosecution witnesses and other evidence produced before it.