A man accused by his two minor daughters of sexual assault has been let off by a Delhi court after the girls retracted their statements during the trial and said they had a quarrel with him.
The two girls and their mother in their statement recorded by the magistrate accused their father of sexually assaulting them, but when the case reached the stage of trial, they did not stand by their versions.
Additional Sessions Judge Dr. P.S. Malik let off the man, a resident of North-East Delhi, who was charged for raping and voluntarily causing hurt to his minor daughters and also under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
“As per prosecution version, only the victims, were the witnesses of fact in whose presence the incident had taken place, but they both have not supported the prosecution case. They were cross-examined by the public prosecutor at length but that cross-examination was not helpful in elucidating the facts according to the prosecution case,” the court said.
The younger sister had told the police that in August 2013, when she was studying in Class IX, her father used to rape her. She also said that he had raped her elder sister, too, and they somehow managed to reach the police station and file the complaint.
Statements of both the victims and their mother were recorded by the magistrate. Thereafter, the police filed the charge sheet and the charges were framed.
During the trial, the mother of the victim was summoned for examination. She denied all allegations against her husband and said she did not remember having made any allegation against him in her statement recorded by the magistrate.
She went on to say that there was some quarrel between her husband and their elder daughter.
One of the two victims was also summoned. During her examination, she also stated that their father had a quarrel with her elder sister. Following the quarrel, the elder sister went to the police station and she also followed her. She said at the police station, they met a woman working with an NGO and at her instance, a case was registered by the police against her father.
The elder sister told the court that her father had scolded her and attempted to beat her up but she ran out of the house to save herself and was followed by her sister.
