Caught in a complex legal web, a woman whose very statement led to a 20-year jail sentence for her husband, is now struggling to secure his freedom in Odisha’s Balangir district.
The case came to light when Jepal Mahakur, husband of the woman, Abhangini Dang, moved the Orissa High Court to set aside the judgment of the Balangir Fast Track Special Court (FTSC), which has convicted him under the stringent provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Both Ms. Dang and Mahakur belong to Bilaspur village under the Tusura Police Station limit in Balangir district. When Ms. Dang was 15 years old, she had allegedly entered into a relationship with her husband, who was then 23 years old.
