Baripada (Odisha), April 23 (PTI) A POCSO court here sentenced a man to 20 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) for raping a 12-year-old girl in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district, a government lawyer said on Wednesday.

Special POCSO court judge Santosh Kumar Nayak also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on convict Md Mustakim (35), Special Public Prosecutor Manaranjan Pattnaik said.

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The court directed the secretary of Mayurbhanj District Legal Services Authority to pay a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the victim, he said.

The judgment was based on the victim's statement, seven witnesses and medical report, Pattnaik added.

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According to police, Md Mustakim, a relative of the victim, had taken her to a nearby riverbank located in Bahalda police station area and raped her on March 8, 2023. Later, her family members lodged FIR in the police station.

Based on the complaint, police registered a case under relevant sections of POCSO Act and IPC and arrested the accused.

(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)