The Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (BOXO) court in Odisha on Thursday sentenced a man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for repeatedly raping his minor daughter over a period of six years when she was 12 years old, and continuing the assault even after her marriage by threatening to distribute obscene pictures and videos of her.
Hrudananda Mahanta of Sukinda was found guilty under Section 6 of the Bukso Act and Section 506 (ii) of the IPC, by the Special Bukso Magistrate at Jajpur, Abhilash Senapati, who imposed a fine of $50,000. However, his wife, Gauri Mahanta, and another woman named Mali Mahanta, who were named as co-accused for allegedly facilitating and recording the abuses, were acquitted due to lack of reliable evidence.
According to the prosecution, the abuse began in 2017 when the minor, who was around 12 years old and a seventh-grade student, was staying at her maternal uncle’s house in Jajpur area while her parents visited her periodically.
The minor told the court that her father began harassing her during these visits, and that her complaints to her mother went unheeded, with the abuse continuing “until the family’s social prestige was cited” as a reason for silence.
Read also: Minor’s consent baseless to end rape case: Rajasthan High Court
The minor was first sexually assaulted when she was approximately 14 years old, during her grandfather’s funeral rites, after which the assaults continued at her uncle’s house several times. The assault followed her first at a women’s college in Keonjhar, where her father allegedly took her to a hotel several times between 2022 and 2023, and later at a women’s college in the town of Cuttack, where she enrolled for her college studies.
The prosecution alleged that the minor’s stepmother injected her protein powder with sedatives on at least four occasions in the family’s home village, after which Hrudananda allegedly raped her while she was unconscious, and Mali recorded the assaults on his phone.
The minor said she eventually confided in her 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 photos and videos via her mother-in-law’s phone, threatening to make them public. The minor said she allegedly tried to commit suicide, but was treated by her mother-in-law.
The matter came to light publicly in December 2024, when the minor, who was staying with her uncle’s family, reported the assault to the Sakhi One-stop Service Center in Jajpur, which alerted the Sukinda police. She was rescued and a First Information Report (FIR) was registered.
Hrudananda was arrested on December 10, 2024, while his wife Gauri and another woman Mali were arrested later that month.
Describing the case as a profound betrayal, the Buxo court said that when the perpetrator is the father, the crime takes on a satanic character.
The court said: “Such crimes deserve only the harshest condemnation and exemplary punishment. When a parental figure, commanded by nature and society to be an impregnable shield, a vigilant sentinel, and an unerring moral compass, turns instead into the perpetrator of the most appalling violation of a child’s physical integrity and innate dignity, the resulting betrayal transcends character, shattering the basic institution of human trust.”
