2 Army personnel sentenced to life imprisonment for sexual assault of 4-year-old child

Berhampur: The special Pocso court in Berhampur on Friday sentenced two Army personnel to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting a four-year-old nursery student.The crime occurred on Jan 2 while the girl was returning home from school in a bus designated for transporting children of defence personnel, in which the convicts were employed as escorts.

Sources said the student screamed when the convicts sexually assaulted her, taking advantage of the fact that she was the last to be dropped off.Additional district-cum-special Pocso court judge Pranati Pattnaik also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each convict. “In case of non-payment, they will serve an additional six months in prison,” said special public prosecutor Narayan Panda. “The court sentenced them to imprisonment for the remainder of their natural life,” he said.“The court also directed the district legal services authorities to pay Rs 10.50 lakh to the child, with the entire fine amount to be paid after recoveries from the convicts,” he added. “The court pronounced its judgment after recording the statements of seven witnesses, including police, doctor, driver, and based on the medical reports,” Panda said.While one of the convicts is a 30-year-old havildar from Gujarat, the other is a 37-year-old naik from Odisha’s Deogarh district.

After getting down from the bus, the child told her parents about her ordeal. Her parents then took her to hospital, where the medical officer reported it was a case of sexual assault. Doctors at a govt hospital seconded the medical officer’s opinion. The child’s mother lodged an FIR on Jan 3 against the two men. Police registered a case under different sections of BNS and Pocso Act and arrested the duo.Considering the gravity of the case, SP (Berhampur) Saravana Vivek M had directed a woman inspector to conduct the investigation.