Balasore, Mar 20 (UNI): Special POCSO court judge-cum-additional sessions judge Ajanta Sadangi today convicted a rape and murder accused and sentenced him to life and slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 on him.
The court also ruled that Muna Das alias Sahani (19), the convict, would undergo an additional 15 months jail term if he failed to pay the fine.
Special public prosecutor, POCSO court, Pranab Panda said the judge pronounced the judgment after cross examining 16 witnesses and 26 documents submitted before the court.
Panda said Muna was had been tried under three sections - 302, Protection of children sexual offences (POCSO) Act and suppression of Evidences (201) of the IPC.
The punishments under different sections pronounced by the court would run concurrently.
Muna Das a native of Suan (Iram), in Basudevpur police station limits of Bhadrak district, had raped and killed a 7-year-old girl of Remuna area on April 24, 2016.
After committing the crime, he disposed of the body in the river Sono. The body of the deceased was found by the villagers next day.
The convict, who stayed at his maternal uncle's house, was caught by villagers who suspected he was responsible and handed him over to the police. He confessed to the crime during investigation.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.