Bhubaneswar: The Special Fast Track Court Judge Durga Charan Mishra on Wednesday convicted Shubhankar Pal (44) of Basudebpur village Tribeni, West Bengal in a case of rape of a minor girl.
The judge has sentenced the convict to 7 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000. In default of payment of the fine amount, the convict shall undergo another 1 year in jail, the court ruled.
The case was handled by Special PP Subrata Priyadarshi on behalf of the government. In this case, 8 witnesses, 21 documents and 11 pieces of evidence were submitted against the accused in the court on behalf of the government. Also, the opposition counsel submitted one witness and 4 documents on behalf of the Shubhankar. The investigating officer of the case was Sub Inspector Khaymasagar Nayak.
According to the case report, during Durga Puja in 2018, the wife and daughter of the convict living in the Jatni area had gone to the village when he called a minor girl who was staying near the house and raped her on the pretext of giving her ice cream.
After the minor’s mother lodged a complaint, the police registered case no. 360/18 under Section 376(3)/506 of the IPC and Pocso Act and arrested Shubhankar. For the last four and a half years, Shubhankar has been lodged as an undertrial prisoner at Jharpada Jail.
