Kota (Rajasthan), Dec 18 (PTI) A court in Rajasthan's Kota district has sentenced a 40-year-old man to 20 years of imprisonment after holding him guilty of abducting and raping a minor in 2016.

The POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court convicted the man on Thursday and also slapped a fine of Rs 30,000 on him.

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP), POCSO court – 5, Kota, Suresh Verma said the man, identified as Mahaveer, a resident of Sultanpur area, had abducted and raped the 16-year-old girl of his village in April 2016.

Her father lodged the missing report of the girl at Sultanpur police station on April 20, 2020. He stated that his daughter had gone missing from the home since the night of April 18 and suspected that Mahaveer might have abducted her.

A case under relevant sections was lodged and investigation initiated into the matter, Verma said.

Police arrested Mahaveer from Indore in Madhya Pradesh and rescued the girl, who was held hostage for around three months at a rented house in the city, the SPP said.

Other sections of rape under the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act were incorporated and the charge sheet was filed against him by police, he added

The statements of at least 22 witnesses were recorded during trial of the case, Verma said. The convict is a father of two, the SPP added.

(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)