Agartala: A Special Court in West Tripura convicted a 25-year-old youth on Thursday for raping a 15-year-old girl in October 2018 and sentenced him to 20 years rigorous imprisonment under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
The Court has also fined him Rs 2000 failing of which would suffer an additional one month in jail.
The convicted, Hriday Santal, of Meglipara tea estate under Airport police station was accused of raping the victim in a deserted place inside the garden in evening.
Police said the accused had affairs with the victim and in this connection, Hriday called up the girl to meet him outside their residence in the evening. Allegedly, after being met he forced the girl inside the tea garden and raped her for an hour.
Later, he escorted the girl to her house, issuing a threat not to disclose it to others, as the accused would marry her soon. But, the parents found the girl unwell at night and on persuasion she revealed the incident and accordingly on the next day, a police case was registered against Hriday but he was absconding.
After a week, police arrested Hriday from a nearby locality, but the court granted him bail, as police couldn’t file a charge sheet within the stipulated time. During the trial, as many as 17 witnesses had deposited their statements.
