Kendrapada: The Additional District & Sessions Judge –cum-Special Judge (POCSO) Kendrapada, Pranati Pattanaik, has, convicted a septuagenarian and sentenced him to 20 years of Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) for raping a 16 year old girl.

Adjudicating the case on Tuesday the court also asked the convict Rajib Malik alias Chotta (70) of Govindapur village under Aul police to pay a fine of Rs 25,000.

The court directed that if the convict failed to provide the fine then he would have to undergo prison for one more year.

Sources said Rajib Malik in 2022 had raped the minor daughter of his friend several times and impregnated her.

The family members on August 25, 2022 lodged an FIR at Aul police station after medical report revealed that the girl was seven months pregnant.

Aul police registered a case u/s 376(2)(n), 376(3),506 of IPC; Section 6 of POCSO Act and arrested the accused Septuagenarian person.
The court gave the judgement after verifying the evidence and cross examining the evidence along with the DNA report of the child of the victim minor girl to ascertain the biological parent, said Manoj Kumar Sahu, the special Public Prosecutor of the POCSO Court.

(With UNI Inputs)