A Delhi court has acquitted a man of the charge of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl as the victim as well her parents backed out on their allegations against the accused.
The victim in her statements to the police and later recorded by a Metropolitan Magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code had levelled the charges against the accused. But when she was examined in the trial of the case, she said that there was just a quarrel with somebody when she had gone out to fetch water. She also failed to identify the accused in the trial as the person with whom she had a quarrel.
The father also talked only about the quarrel his daughter had with some unknown person. He completely did an about turn on his earlier allegation that the accused had sexually assaulted his daughter. As regards the complaint lodged with the police, he said that it was not read over to him. He also alleged that the police had just taken his signature on blank papers.
The victim’s mother and one of her neighbour also evidenced on the same lines. “Evidence of prosecution witnesses 1, 2 and 3, (victim, her mother and father) who are the only material witnesses in this case, do not prove that it was the accused who had sexually assaulted the child victim, Additional Sessions Judge Vikas Dhull said.
“On the contrary, from the evidence of the child victim, mother of the child victim and father of the child victim, what has been proved on record is taking place of a quarrel between the child victim and some boy; nowhere it is proved that the child victim was sexually assaulted on the day of the incident.
“In the light of above discussion, the prosecution has not been able to prove that the accused had sexually assaulted the child victim on 02.07.2013… Accordingly, the accused is acquitted of the offence under Section 10 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act,” Mr. Dhull said while acquitting the accused.
Victim, parents back out on their allegations in court
