Odisha Pocso court awards father 20 years imprisonment for raping minor daughter

According to the prosecution, the abuse began in 2017 when the minor, then about 12, was staying at her maternal uncle’s house in Jajpur district while her parents visited periodically

A Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) court in Odisha on Thursday sentenced a man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for repeatedly raping his minor daughter over six years when she was aged 12 years, and continuing the abuse even after her marriage by threatening to circulate obscene photographs and videos of her.

The minor was first sexually assaulted when she was around 14, during her grandfather’s funeral rites. (Representative Image | iStock)

Hrudananda Mahanta of Sukinda was found guilty under section 6 of the Pocso Act and Section 506(ii) of the IPC, by special Pocso judge of Jajpur, Abhilash Senapati who imposed a fine of ₹50,000. His wife, Gouri Mahanta, and another woman named Mali Mahanta, who were named as co-accused for allegedly facilitating and recording the abuse, however were acquitted due to lack of credible evidence.

According to the prosecution, the abuse began in 2017 when the minor, then about 12 and a student of Class 7, was staying at her maternal uncle’s house in Jajpur district while her parents visited periodically.

The minor told the court that her father began molesting her during these visits, and that her complaints to her mother went unheeded, with the abuse continuing “until the social prestige of the family” was cited as a reason for silence.

The minor was first sexually assaulted when she was around 14, during her grandfather’s funeral rites, after which the assaults continued at her uncle’s house on several occasions. The abuse followed her through first at a women’s college in Keonjhar, where her father allegedly took her to a hotel multiple times between 2022 and 2023, and later at a women’s college in Cuttack town, where she had enrolled for her undergraduate studies.

The prosecution alleged that that the minor’s stepmother laced her protein powder with sedatives on at least four occasions at the family’s native village, after which Hrudananda allegedly raped her while she was unconscious, with Mali recording the assaults on his phone.

The minor said she eventually confided in her paternal uncle, who arranged her marriage in February 2024 to a man from Dhenkanal. After she refused to return to her father’s house, he allegedly sent her nude photographs and videos via her mother-in-law’s phone, threatening to make them public. The minor said she allegedly tried to die by suicide but was treated by her mother-in-law.

The matter came to light publicly in December 2024, when the minor, then staying with her uncle’s family, reported the abuse to the one-stop centre ‘Sakhi’ in Jajpur, which alerted Sukinda police. She was rescued and a first information report (FIR) was registered.

Hrudananda was arrested on December 10, 2024, while his wife Gouri and another woman Mali were arrested later that month.

Describing the case as one of profound betrayal, the Pocso court said when the perpetrator is the father, the crime assumes a demonic character.

“Such offences deserve nothing but the severest condemnation and deterrent punishment. When a paternal figure, ordained by nature and society to stand as an impenetrable shield, a vigilant guardian, and an unerring moral compass, transmutes instead into the author of the most harrowing violation of a child‘s bodily integrity and innate dignity, the resultant betrayal transcends the personal; it shatters the foundational institution of human trust,” the court said.