Bhubaneswar: An 18-year-old woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison for abetting gang rape of her classmate in a hotel in Odisha’s Cuttack 2023.
The Additional District court in Odisha’s Kendrapada district also slapped a fine of Rs 18,000 on the convict. In case of default in the fine amount, she has to undergo additional jail term of one year. The court also directed the Odisha State Legal Services Authority (OSLSA) to pay Rs 7.50 lakh compensation to the survivor, special public prosecutor Manoj Kumar Sahu told PTI.
The rape survivor, who belongs to a village in Kendrapada district, was a Plus II humanities student and 17-year-old at the time of the incident, which took place when she was returning home with one of her friends from college on October 17, 2023. The convict had offered her a drink, which was spiked. When the girl fell unconscious, she contacted Suryakant Sahoo of Athagarh and Satyaranjan Sahoo of Cuttack, who then took her to the hotel at Madhupatna in Cuttack in a car and raped her there. The girl returned to her village on October 18 and lodged an FIR.
Police later arrested two persons along with the girl, who was initially produced before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in Kendrapada since she was a juvenile at that time. The JJB stated that the child in conflict with the law was fully aware of the circumstances in which the offences were committed and transferred the case record to the Kendrapara court for her trial.
The trial of the other two accused persons is yet to be completed, Sahu added.
