Man gets 20 years in jail for raping Odia girl in Mumbai

Bhubaneswar: A special Pocso court in Odisha’s Cuttack district today sentenced a man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for raping a minor Odia girl in Mumbai in December 2021.

The court also slapped a penalty of Rs 20,000 on convict Guddu Nishad. Non-payment of the penalty amount will invite additional jail term for one year, said the court in its verdict.

The court directed the District Legal Services Authority in Cuttack to provide Rs 4 lakh compensation to the victim.

As per the case records, Guddu Nishad had developed a friendship with a 14-year-old girl from Nemalo area of Cuttack district through Facebook in 2021.

Nishad, who was working in a garments factory in Mumbai, had forced the girl to travel to the Maharashtra capital on December 20, 2021 by threatening her to make some of her purported obscene photos viral on social media.

Nishad kept the girl confined to a room near Kalyan Railway Station in Mumbai and raped her several times.

The girl’s family had lodged a missing complaint with police.  Acting on the complaint, the Odisha police launched a probe and later rescued the girl. The cops also arrested Nishad in this connection.

The court convicted Nishad by examining the statements of 18 witnesses and other evidence in the case, said special public prosecutor Bishwajit Ray.