Life imprisonment for five in rape, blackmail case

Sambalpur (Odisha), Aug 25 (PTI) A court here todaysentenced five persons to life imprisonment after convictingthem for raping a minor girl two years ago and blackmailingher. The special-cum-session court judge Dipti Mohapatra alsosentenced another person to three years rigorous imprisonment(RI) for his involvement in recording the sexual assault on amobile phone and subsequently releasing it through the socialmedia. The court slapped a penalty of Rs 2 lakh on each of thefive and in default the convicts would have to undergo RI offurther six months. The penalty money if paid would be given to the victim,the judge ruled. The five convicts Bishnu Kishan, Prashanta Dansana,Jayamangal Pradhan, Ranjan Oram and Muna Oram were foundguilty under section 376 D and section C of the Protection ofChildren from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. The other person Sunil Mirdha was sentenced to RI forthree years after he was found guilty under sections 323(punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (punishment forcriminal intimidation) and 341 (punishment for wrongfulrestraint) of IPC. The incident took place on July 22, 2014 when the victimwent to Jamadarpali area with a boy. The five threatened theboy and forced him to move to a distance from the site of theincident. While one stood guard, the others raped the minor girl.One of them recorded the assault on a mobile phone. The victim was rescued by the people from a nearby villageafter hearing her shouts. The convicts fled but later used the photos to blackmailher. When she failed to fulfill their demands they circulatedthe pictures as MMS in the social media. The father of the victim had lodged a complaint with thepolice on October 18, 2014 after the MMS was circulated. PTICORR AAM KKSC