A POCSO court in Bengal’s Jhargram convicted a man of raping a girl and sentenced him to 20-year rigorous imprisonment.
The court also ordered the Bengal government to pay Rs 3 lakh to the family of the 12-year-old girl under the victim compensation scheme.
Special POCSO court judge Chinmay Chattopadhyay found the accused guilty of rape and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for 20 years on Wednesday.
The girl had gone to see soil excavation outside her village with another child and while returning home, she was accosted by the accused at a secluded place on February 19, 2023, special public prosecutor Subhasish Dwibedi said.
The man forced the other child to leave and raped the girl in a nearby jungle, according to the complaint lodged by the girl’s family in the state’s Paschim Medinipur district, he said.
The accused was arrested a day after the complaint was lodged on February 21 last year, Mr Dwibedi said.
The charge was framed under Section 370 for rape under the Indian Penal Code and various Sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against the accused.
Trial in the case was completed within a year, he added.
