Balasore, May 3 (PTI) A court in Odisha's Balasore district Wednesday sentenced a man to 20 years rigorous imprisonment for raping a minor girl.

Special Judge of POCSO court, Balasore, Ranjan Kumar Sutar convicted Akash Malick of village Chhanua for raping the girl and ordered him to pay a fine of Rs 4000.

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According to prosecution, a complaint was lodged by the girl's father stating that his daughter and kidnapped and sexually assaulted by Akash Malick while she was on her way to her college in Balasore in May, 2022.

The court pronounced the verdict after examining 11 witnesses and 21 exhibits.

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"The court also ordered Rs 4 lakh compensation for the victim to be paid through district legal services authority (DLSA)," said Special Public Prosecutor, Pranab Panda

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)