Bhubaneswar: A POCSO court in Odisha’s Jajpur district today sentenced a private tutor to 20 years of imprisonment for raping a 15-year-old girl student six years ago.

The Special POCSO court also slapped a penalty of Rs 50,000 on convict Ramakanta Biswal of Korei area in Jajpur.

As per the case records, Biswal had allegedly raped the minor girl several times during the tuition hours in 2020.

The girl’s family members along with the officials of the Childline had lodged a complaint in this regard with Korei police.

On the basis of the complaint, the cops registered a case and arrested the accused under Section 6 of the POCSO Act.

The court convicted the accused after examining 19 witnesses and other pieces of evidence gathered by the police during investigation, said public prosecutor Pratap Kumar Ray.

The POCSO court also directed the Jajpur district Legal Services Authority to provide Rs 8 lakh compensation to the victim.