Bhubaneswar: A POCSO court in Odisha’s Rourkela city today sentenced the owner of a private school to 10 years of imprisonment for raping a former student of the institute in 2019.

The court also imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on convict Bibhuti Kumar Gupta, the owner and principal of Bandhamunda Gyanodaya Vidyalaya in Sundargarh district. Non-payment of the penalty amount will invite further jail term for two years, said the court.

As per the case records, the victim as well as her younger brother were the students of the private school.

Upon her completion of the school education, the girl urged the school owner for waiver of the tuition fee of her brother as her family was facing severe financial difficulties.

 The school owner invited the girl to his chamber on December 8, 2019 for a discussion on the fee waiver issue.

Taking advantage of the situation, the school owner raped the girl in his chamber. Fearing social disgrace, the victim did not reveal the incident to anyone.

However, the girl recounted her ordeal before her family two months after the incident.

The victim’s family lodged a written complaint with Bandhamunda police on February 25, 2020.

Basing upon the complaint, the police registered a rape case and arrested the accused.

The POCSO court convicted the owner of the private school after examining 21 witnesses and the evidence gathered by the police during the investigation, said public prosecutor Kailash Chandra Pradhan.