Balasore: After convicting a man of raping a minor dalit girl, a court in Balasore district sentenced him to life imprisonment today.

The Additional District Judge-cum-Special Court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act awarded life imprisonment to the convict, Benudhar Mahanti, and imposed a fine of ₹20,000. In default of payment of the fine, the court ordered Mahanti to undergo an additional one year of imprisonment.

The case was registered at Singla police station as Case No. 22 dated January 30, 2025, under Section 65(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Section 6 of the POCSO Act, and Section 2(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The sexual assault case was treated as a “Red Flag” case and closely monitored by the Crime Against Women & Children (CAW & CW) Wing, Bhubaneswar. The investigation was supervised by Raj Prasad, the then Superintendent of Police, Balasore.