LUCKNOW, Jan. 29 -- A special court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, on Thursday sentenced Samajwadi Party leader Moid Khan's employee Raju Khan to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs.50,000 in the 2024 alleged gangrape case of a 12-year-old girl in Ayodhya district's Bhadarsa area.

Nirupama Vikram, additional district judge, POCSO, Ayodhya, passed the order. Earlier, the court on Wednesday acquitted Samajwadi Party functionary Moid Khan, 71, for lack of evidence and convicted his servant Raju Khan, who is in his 20s, on the basis of the DNA test report.

An FIR of the alleged gangrape of the minor was registered at the Bhadarsa police station of Ayodhya on July 29, 2024...