3 men sentenced to life imprisonment for gangraping minor girl in Odisha’s Keonjhar

Keonjhar: Three youths were sentenced to life imprisonment today by the Additional District & Sessions Judge-cum-Special POCSO court for gangraping a minor girl in Patana locality of Keonjhar district. In addition, the court imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on each of them.

Three convicts are Ranjeet Mohanty (33), Rabindra Naik (25), and Sunil Behera (32).

The youths shall undergo rigorous imprisonment (RI) for a year more in case they fail to pay the fine amount, the special court decreed. The POCSO court also ordered the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to pay a compensation of Rs 7,50,000 to the rape survivor.

According to a source, the minor girl had gone to a place under Patana police limits to witness Jagara Jatra on the intervening night (March 5, 2022) along with her younger brother. The power supply went out for some time when the minor girl was standing alone and her brother was playing on a jumping table away from the victim. Taking advantage of the darkness, the youths forcibly picked her up and took her to a nearby fabrication unit located at a secluded place. They had outraged her modesty one after another and threatened her of dire consequences in case she would reveal the incident to anybody.

The girl had narrated her plight to her family after returning home and an FIR was then lodged.

A special POCSO case 41/2020 of 2022 and Patana PS case No-43/2022 were registered and a probe was initiated leading to the punishments, special public prosecutor Ganesh Prasad Mohapatra said.

The quantum of punishment was pronounced after hearing at least 15 witnesses.