Bhubaneswar: A Special POCSO court in Odisha’s Angul district has sentenced a man to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for raping a minor girl last year.

The court pronounced its judgment on July 29.

The court also imposed a penalty of Rs 30,000 on convict Udaya Naik. Non-payment of the penalty amount would invite further imprisonment for one year, said the court.

As per the case records, Naik sexually assaulted the minor girl in Pallahara area of Angul district on July 20, last year.

The victim’s family lodged a complaint in this regard with Pallahara police a day later.

The cops registered a case against Naik under Sections 65(2) and 351(2) of the BNS and Section 4 of the POCSO Act and launched a probe into the incident.

The case was declared as a Red Flag case and a special investigating officer (IO) was appointed by the Odisha Police. The police submitted a chargesheet against the accused on September 17, 2024.

The POCSO court convicted Naik after examining the witnesses to the case and evidence gathered by the police during the investigation. The case was probed and the conviction of the accused was secured just a year after the crime.