More than three years after he was arrested on charge of attempting to rape a minor girl, a Scheduled Caste man has been acquitted by the Ernakulam Additional District and Sessions Court.
P.U. Jinesh, 36, of Paravur, and the minor’s mother from Thrissur, who was arrested on charge of abetting the alleged crime, were acquitted by the court on March 11 on the ground that the prosecution had failed to prove the case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.
The Ernakulam Town police had registered a case against the accused in March 2016.
Jinesh, an autorickshaw driver who resided in a rented apartment at Vaduthala, had helped the second accused and her two minor girls find accommodation in his building. The prosecution case was that Jinesh attempted to rape the girl, then 16 years old, on March 1, 2016 in the apartment. Pointing out inconsistencies in the girl’s statement, the court observed that she had made no such case either in her chief examination or in the cross examination.
