Dhenkanal: A local court Monday convicted a man of raping his minor step-daugther at Latabainsian Munda Sahi under Gandia police limits in Dhenkanal district and awarded him 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment.
Special POSCO judge (additional district and sessions judge) Lalatendu Jena awarded the jail term to the convict Ladura alias Narad Haibru (50). The case was handled by special public prosecutor Suleman Khan on behalf of the victim.
According to sources, the victim’s mother had married Narad after the death of her first husband. Being the girl’s step-father, Narad was not very fond of the girl and often inflicted mental and physical torture on her.
As per the case diary, the girl had gone to graze cattle in a forest nearby the village during Roja in 2015. Narad reached there and outraged the modesty of the girl.
After the girl returned home, she narrated her ordeal to her mother who confronted Narad on the issue. However, Narad threatened to kill them and also tried to strangle the woman. Fearing for their lives, the mother and the girl remained silent.
However, after a few days, Narad again tried to rape the girl in the presence of her mother. Infuriated over this blatant sex abuse, the woman alerted the villagers and later lodged a complaint with the police, October 9, 2015.
Acting on the complaint, police registered a case and arrested Narad and he was produced in court. The judge pronounced the verdict after examining the statements of all the witnesses in the case.
The court also imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on Narad. He would undergo an additional one-year jail term, if he defaults the fine, the court ruled.