Thane, A court in Thane has acquitted a 32‑year‑old man accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl, observing that the case appeared to arise from a personal dispute with the victim’s mother over a marriage proposal.
Special POCSO Court Judge D S Deshmukh, in the judgment on February 13, noted the accused and the victim’s mother were in a relationship, and when he refused to marry her, a quarrel ensued.
The possibility of the victim being tutored could not be ruled out, and her testimony did not inspire confidence to establish sexual assault, it said.
According to the prosecution, the incident occurred on August 11, 2019, when the 10-year-old victim and her mother were returning from a market in the Mumbra area of Maharashtra’s Thane district.
The accused, Mohammad Nashir Rain, a local tea seller, hugged the child from behind and made obscene advances. When the mother intervened, the accused assaulted her, resulting in a fracture, the prosecution alleged.
The accused was charged under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
The defence argued that the complainant and the accused were in a long-standing relationship and that the legal action was retaliatory.
The court ruled that the prosecution failed to prove the “foundational facts” necessary to establish guilt and noted significant inconsistencies in the testimonies of the mother and the daughter.
The mother admitted to visiting a lodge with the accused twice, and that a dispute existed regarding the accused’s refusal to marry her, it noted.
It appears that the girl’s mother and the accused were in a relationship, and when the accused did not agree to marry her, a quarrel took place between them, the court said.
Considering the evidence on record and the circumstances, “the possibility of tutoring the victim can not be ruled out. In such circumstances, her evidence on record does not inspire confidence to hold that she has been sexually assaulted by the accused,” it said.
The court also pointed out that while the mother claimed her hand was fractured in the scuffle, the medical evidence did not support the assertion.
It further observed that variations in the victim’s statements weakened the prosecution’s case.
The defence taken by the accused that he is falsely implicated in this case appears to be more probable, the court said while acquitting the man, who had undergone over three years of detention during the trial.
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