Bhubaneswar, Jul 10 (PTI) A POCSO court here on Thursday sentenced a man to 20 years of imprisonment for raping a 17-year-old girl five years ago, a government lawyer said.

Special Public prosecutor Rajib Sasmal said the judge of the special POCSO court, Saroj Kumar Sahoo, also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on Raja Mallick (21) after convicting him in the rape case.

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The judge ordered that if Raja failed to pay the fine, he would serve an additional jail term of three months.

The judgment was pronounced on the basis of examination of 14 witnesses and 73 documents, Sasmal said.

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The special public prosecutor said the court has directed the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), Khurda to pay Rs 3.5 lakh as compensation to the survivor.

According to the prosecution, the survivor was known to the convict, and they were in a relationship.

On July 18, 2020, Raja had abducted the girl after promising her of marriage and later raped her. The girl's family lodged a complaint with Khandagiri police station.

The police, after investigation, rescued the girl on October 24 that year and arrested the accused on October 27 from Baramunda area in Bhubaneswar.

(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)