Phulbani (Odisha), Jul 16 (PTI) A POCSO court here on Wednesday sentenced a man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for raping a four-year-old girl and outraging the modesty of her mother last year, a public prosecutor said.

Monoranjan Das, judge of the POCSO court, Phulbani, also imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on the convict, Sankar Pradhan. If he fails to pay the fine amount, he will remain in custody for another 13 months, public prosecutor Asim Kumar Praharaja said.

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The court also directed the Kandhamal District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to pay Rs 7 lakh as compensation to the survivor, Praharaja said.

According to the prosecution, the accused had snatched the girl from the lap of her mother standing outside her house and raped her in February, 2024.

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Acting on the FIR of the minor's mother, police arrested the accused and forwarded him to the court.

(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)