THRISSUR: In a rare judgment, the Thrissur first additional district sessions court judge K P Sudheer on Tuesday sentenced a pastor of Salvation Army Church of Peechi for 40 years of rigorous imprisonment on charges of raping a 12-year-old girl The judge, who is also the designated district judge for the trial of the cases charged under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, has also slapped fine of Rs 20,000 on the accused, while the victim will receive a compensation of Rs 3 lakh from `Victim Compensation Fund'.The accused Sanil K James, who is the son Kuttikkal James of Nedunkandam of Kottayam, has been found guilty under the section 376 (2)f of IPC , and sections 4 and 5 of POCSO Act, read with Section 6 of the same Act.The judge has slapped 20 years of RI under IPC and another 20 years of RI for the offences proved under the POCSO Act. Since the sentences run concurrently the accused will have to undergo 20 years of rigorous imprisonment. According to the special prosecutor, Pious Mathew, this was the first time in the state that such a harsh punishment has been awarded to an accused under the POCSO Act.Pious Mathew said the 35-year-old pastor had raped the girl, who was studying in seventh standard, at his presbytery (official residence) during the summer vacation in April 2014.The victim had gone to the pastor's residence to hand over the herbal medicine for treating his child.``The girl and her siblings were with the child of the convict, when he with evil motive to distract other children switched on TV and allowed them to watch shows. Convict then took the victim to the adjacent room and closed the doors to commit the crime,'' the judge recalled in his order.The pastor is also an accused in another case of raping a minor girl at Peechi. The trial in the case is yet to begin. The convict has been taken to the Central Prison, Kannur.Pious Mathew who had been recently appointed as the special public prosecutor to deal with the offences charged under the POSCO Act said steps would be taken to expedite the trial of such cases in the district.