JORHAT, June 16 - The Jorhat District and Sessions Judge VK Chandak in the capacity of Special Judge sentenced a youth to 10 years rigorous imprisonment on Thursday after finding him guilty of raping a minor three years back.
The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on Ratan Bhuyan (23), a resident of Duflating Tea Estate under Titabar Police Station in Titabar sub-division of the district.
In default of payment of the fine, the convict will have to serve another six months of rigorous imprisonment, the judge stated in the judgement.
The case against Bhuyan was registered at the Titabar Police Station after the father of the victim lodged an FIR on July 27, 2015 alleging that his daughter was raped by Bhuyan two days back. Chandak also directed the Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority, Jorhat to assess and pay adequate compensation to the victim for her welfare.
The judge in an observation in the judgement stated that �any leniency towards the sentence to the accused would send wrong signal to society�.
Altogether, seven witnesses appeared before the court during the trial. Public Prosecutor Mohidhar Dutta led the charges against the accused in the court.
