A special court here has awarded life imprisonment to a 79-year-old retired professor and his daughter, an advocate, in a case of rape and harassment of minor girls at an orphanage run by her.

Special judge Arun Kumar Verma yesterday sentenced the accused - K N Agrawal (79), a retired government college professor, and his daughter Shaila Agrawal (50) - to life imprisonment, till the rest of their natural life.

According to the prosecution, the woman used to run a hostel for orphan girls in the district.

The Child Welfare Society and a child protection officer in Shivpuri had earlier received a complaint about girls allegedly being abused in the facility.

Subsequently, a probe was conducted and on November 16, 2016, the police registered a case against the woman and her father for sexually abusing the minor girls, the prosecution said.

During the probe, it was found that the woman used to help her father in abusing the girls.

The victims also revealed during investigation that they were given sedatives before being sexually assaulted and whenever they complained to the woman about it, she would beat them up to silence them.

On the report of the child protection officer, the woman and her father were arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and the orphanage was sealed.

About 23 girls were residing in the hostel at that time and of them, six minors, aged between 11 and 16 years, were sexually assaulted by the retired professor, the prosecution said.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 16,000 each on the two convicts.