Bhubaneswar, March 2 A local court in Odisha's Keonjhar district on Friday sentenced a 22-year-old youth and his father to undergo 25 and 20 years rigorous imprisonment, respectively, for sexually assaulting a minor girl.
Convicts Dolagobinda and Bubun Sethi are residents of Bijagoth under Sadar police station of Keonjhar.
"Prime accused Bubun Sethi, a truck driver, forcibly kidnapped the 15-year-old victim on October 26, 2021 after giving her an intoxicant. When the accused parked his vehicle near a tea shop in Champua area of the district, the girl suddenly regained her senses and started crying out for help. Some transgenders present at the spot informed local police, who rescued the girl," Special Public Prosecutor Ganesh Prasad Mohapatra said.
However, the family members of the accused, to avoid getting embroiled in a police case, took away the girl, assuring the victim’s family to get her married with the accused.
Mohapatra said that the accused repeatedly sexually abused the victim under the pretext of marriage. She was also forcefully raped by Bubun Sethi's father, Dolagobinda Sethi.
Meanwhile, the victim managed to get the contact number of some child rights activists during her captivity by Bubun Sethi in Bisra area of Sundargarh. She was rescued by the activists and later handed over to her family members in Keonjhar.
Based on the complaint lodged by the victim, the Keonjhar police registered a case on March 22, 2022 and arrested the accused father and son duo. The court, after examining the statements of 18 witnesses and other exhibits, pronounced the judgement on Friday. It also directed the District Legal Services Authority to take steps to pay the victim financial compensation of Rs 6 lakh under the Odisha Victim Compensation Scheme.
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