Bhubaneswar: Adhoc Additional District and Sessions-cum-fast-track special court in Jajpur has sentenced a scrap shop owner to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl nine years ago.
Judge, Bijay Kumar Jena convicted Sheik Mohit under sections 376(2i), 302 and 201 of the IPC and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012. The court also slammed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the convict and ordered the district legal service authority to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the victim’s mother.
The verdict was based on testimonies from 35 witnesses and 15 documents, including the postmortem report.
The incident occurred on January 6, 2016, when the victim visited Mohit’s scrap shop near the ferro chrome plant on Jajpur Road to sell glass bottles. Mohit assaulted and strangled her to death to cover up the crime. Later, he stuffed the body in a sack and dumped it on the railway track near the Jajpur Road railway station.
Following a complaint from the victim’s family, Jajpur Road police investigated and arrested Mohit.