Bhubaneswar: A special POCSO court in Odisha’s Cuttack district today sentenced a man to 20 years of imprisonment for raping a minor girl in December last year.

The court also slapped a penalty of Rs 20,000 on convict Ashok Behera.

As per the case records, the minor girl and her younger brother were playing near their home on December 17, 2025.

Behera allegedly lured the minor girl to his house by offering her chocolates and raped her.

The police had launched a probe into the incident after registering a case in this regard on the basis of a complaint lodged by the victim’s family.

The POCSO court convicted the accused after examining the witnesses and the evidence gathered by the police during the investigation.