The Additional District Judge-cum-Special Judge (POCSO) Court in Odisha’s Kendrapara district, relying on a DNA test report, sentenced a 65-year-old man to 20-year imprisonment for repeatedly sexually assaulting and impregnating a 16-year-old girl.
The judge Pranati Patnaik ruled that DNA tests are an effective tool for investigation as well as to establish the proof of guilt of the accused and the DNA report clearly indicates that the accused Rajiv Mallick of a village under Aul police station was the biological father of the baby boy of the rape victim.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the convict and failure to pay which would result in his sentence being increased to a year.
According to the case records, the victim gave birth to a baby boy in January 2023 for which the court ordered a DNA Test of the accused and the infant to determine whether the accused fathered the child through sexual exploitation of the minor girl. On the basis of the DNA report, it was proved that the accused is the biological father of the son of the rape victim.
The minor girl was found to be in an advanced stage of pregnancy due to sexual assault on her multiple occasions.
The victim’s mother filed an FIR in Aul police station on 25 August 2022 alleging that her minor daughter was raped multiple times by Rajiv Mallick, a neighbour for the past six months to impregnate her.
The woman noticed biological changes and found her daughter was pregnant. By then, her pregnancy was in an advanced stage. Acting on the FIR, police launched investigation and arrested the accused under sections- 376 (rape) of IPC, section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act, 2012.
“The victim girl and 12 witnesses deposed in this case in the court. After relying on the DNA report, evidence of the victim girl and others and a medical report, the court convicted the accused to 20 years of imprisonment,” said Manoj Sahoo, the special public prosecutor of the court.