The court sentenced the man to life in prison and fined him Rs 20,000

A court in Jharkhand's Simdega has sentenced a 27-year-old man to life imprisonment for raping a five-year-old girl last year.

Additional District Judge Niraj Kumar Srivastav convicted Nirdosh Topno on Wednesday under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including rape, and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on Topno.

The incident took place on July 21, 2018 when, according to the complaint lodged by the girl's father, she was raped when he had gone to a market and her mother was away at work.

In the complaint, he said when he returned home, he found his daughter missing.

On getting information that Topno, a resident of Lamdega-Dandpani village, had taken his daughter, he went to the Jaldega bus stand.

He saw that Topno was about to leave for Simdega town with his daughter, in an auto-rickshaw, according to the complaint.

The girl's father overpowered Topno and handed him over to police, the prosecution said.

The girl shared her plight with her parents after returning home and DNA samples found on the girl had matched with those of the convict, public prosecutor Subhas Prasad said.