Phulbani: The Juvenile Justice Board in Kandhamal district has ordered a 13-year-old student, accused of molesting a girl, to clean the local government hospital for four hours for six days every week.

The juvenile offender had molested the minor when she was bathing in the community pond of a village in the Raikia police station jurisdictions. The offence was committed on December 14, 2017. Local police later apprehended the juvenile delinquent and had been remanded in reformatory home for juvenile delinquents.

The boy was found guilty of the offence and was repentant for having committed the crime.

The board taking a lenient view of the offence gave him the opportunity to reform.

"The board took a lenient view considering the age of the accused and gave him an opportunity to correct himself," said additional public prosecutor Pratap Kumar Patra.

As the Juvenile Justice Act also provides for an alternative sanction for juveniles consisting of a community service order (unpaid work), the board ordered the minor to turn up at Raikia government-run Community Health Centre at 8am for six days a week. He was directed to sweep and clean the floors of the hospital building.

"He will perform the community service as a punitive measure for six months," Patra said.

The hospital's sanitation workers were also asked to assist him in the work. The hospital authorities as well as the district child protection officers were directed to comply weekly report to the board whether the boy is carrying out its order.