India: Two get 20 yrs' jail in minor's rape case

Bokaro (Jharkhand), Dec 19 (PTI) A Bokaro court on Wednesday sentenced two persons to 20 years of imprisonment in the rape case of a 15-year-old girl in this district of Jharkhand last year.

Additional district and sessions judge Ranjit Kumar held Sumonto Choudhary and Gaju Mahto guilty under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of them. If the convicts fail to deposit the fine, they would have to undergo an additional imprisonment of three months.

Public Prosecutor Sanjay Kumar Jha said the minor girl was waylaid by the two on the night of March 9 last year when she was returning home from her cousin's place in Sialjori area.

The two convicts caught the girl and took her to a desolate place where Choudhary raped her and Mahto kept vigil.

The girl narrated the ordeal to her family members, following which her father lodged an FIR and the two were arrested.