India, April 19 -- A fast-track special court in Odisha's Jajpur district on Saturday awarded life sentence to a couple for killing their 15-year-old pregnant daughter nine years ago.

The court also slapped a penalty of Rs.10,000 on the couple.

The victim, a Class X student in a local school in Laxminarayanpur village of Jajpur, was in a relationship with a married man and was in constant touch with him despite opposition from her parents. In February 2016, when her parents found out that she was pregnant, they beat her to death, burnt her body using kerosene and dumped the ashes at nearby Kharasrota river to destroy evidence.

Their neighbour lodged a first information report (FIR) as she had heard the girl's cries on the night of the ...