Phulbani: The Special Posco Court in Phulbani on Thursday convicted a man for attempting to rape a minor girl in 2016 and sentenced him to 3 years of Rigorous Imprisonment while imposing a fine of Rs 50,000.
Special Posco Court Judge Bhaskar Chandra Sahu convicted Pradeep Kumar Pradhan (32) on the basis of the statements from the victim, witnesses, & medical report.
Apart from handing down Rigorous Imprisonment for 3 years and imposing Rs 50,000 fine, the court ruled that, in default of payment of the fine, the convict shall undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of 6 months for the offence.
Special Public Prosecutor Banamali Behera was handling the case on behalf of the government.
According to the case, the victim had gone to Bandhagarh on 11.09.2016 to watch a match. As she was not allowed to stay in the hostel because she did not participate in the program, she was waiting for the bus at the bus stand to go to the village with another friend. After the girl, who was with her, called the accused, two persons came on a bike and four of them left for the village on that motorcycle.
However, they stopped the bike near Seskajodi forest and her friend and another person went into the forest. Finding, the girl alone, convict Pradeep tried to forcibly outrage the modesty of the minor.
In the meanwhile, two passersby spotted the minor girl in distress and came for her help. But, Pradeep managed to flee from the spot on the bike.
When the victim’s father came to know about this, he lodged a written complaint with the Phiringia police station and a case (112/16) was registered in this regard. Today, the POCSO Court convicted the man and pronounced the verdict.
