Bhubaneswar, Sep 10 (IANS) A court in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district on Wednesday sentenced the former faculty of a college of the district to 20 years rigorous imprisonment for sexually abusing a minor student and making viral the victim’s objectionable images and videos on social media platforms.

The convict identified as Manas Ranjan Barik is a resident of Rasgobindpur area of Mayurbhanj district. According to the case details, the accused lecturer, a gold medalist, was employed at a college where the victim was studying in the Plus 2 Science stream in 2022.

The victim in her complaint, lodged at the Baripada Town Police station on March 29, 2022, alleged that the accused forcefully kept physical relationship with the victim multiple times by falsely promising to marry her.

In the meantime, the accused managed to capture the victim’s nude photographs and videos in his Mobile Phone.

The victim also informed that when Barik had earlier circulated her objectionable videos and images on social media, both the victim and accused lecturer’s families met and reached a compromise under which the accused agreed to delete the nude photos and videos of the victim from his mobile phone.

However, instead of deleting them, he allegedly circulated the content again, prompting the victim to seek legal action against him. Based on her complaint, police registered a case and arrested the accused lecturer on March 30, 2022.

The court after hearing the statements of seven witnesses, 25 exhibits and an investigation report submitted by the police pronounced the judgment on Wednesday holding the accused Barik guilty of the crime.

The court has also asked the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) of Mayurbhanj district to pay Rs 1 lakh to the victim as compensation.

In another similar incident, a local court in Jajpur district on Wednesday sentenced a man to 30 years Rigorous imprisonment for sexually abusing a minor girl on the pretext of marriage in the Kuakhai area of the district last year.

–IANS

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