Bhubaneswar: The court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act convicted a 43-year-old on Monday for raping a minor girl in Chandaka forest in August 2016.

The court convicted Braja Baske with 10 years rigorous imprisonment and a penalty of Rs 4000. Special public prosecutor Subrat Priyadarshi said the accused was convicted under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code and Section 4 of the POCSO Act. "Eight witnesses were examined during the trial. The court has also pronounced four months of additional sentence if the accused fails to pay the penalty," Priyadarshi said.

The girl was raped at the age of eleven when she had been to the forest to attend nature's call. The complaint was lodged by the mother of the victim. Subsequently, the police had arrested Baske a daily wager by profession.

According the annual crime data of the Commissionerate police 125 cases of rape was registered in Bhubaneswar in 2017 as against 77 cases in 2016. The data also revealed the rape victims included 82 minors.

"In most of the rape cases involving minors the accused were acquaintances of the victims," said a police official.