Bhubaneswar: A fast track court in Odisha’s Keonjhar district today sentenced a man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a five-year-old girl last year.

The court also slapped a penalty of Rs 10,000 on convict Kompany Paduria (53) of Badamasinabila village under Ghatagaon police limits in Keonjhar.

Non-payment of the penalty amount would invite additional jail term of six months, said the court.

The court has directed the authorities concerned to provide Rs 4 lakh as compensation to the victim.

As per the case records, the incident took place while the minor girl was playing with her friends near their home on April 9, 2023. The girl’s parents had gone to the nearby forest to collect Mahua flowers.

Paduria took the minor girl to a secluded place and raped her. The incident came to the light when the victim narrated her ordeal before her parents later in the day.

The victim was immediately rushed to a hospital at Ghatagaon by her parents. She was later shifted to Keonjhar district headquarters hospital (DHH) after her condition deteriorated.

The Ghatagaon police had arrested the accused after registering a case in this regard on the basis of a complaint lodged by the victim’s father.

The court convicted the accused after examining 16 witnesses and other evidence to the case.