The Bombay High Court at Goa on Friday after hearing, closed the matter of the appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI), against the acquittal of two accused charged with sexual assault and death of British teenager, for judgement.”
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"Hearings in the appeal filed by the CBI at the Bombay High Court in Goa concluded on Friday," the agency’s special prosecutor Ejaz Khan said.
The CBI had last year challenged the acquittal of two beach-shack workers — Samson D’Souza and Placido Carvalho —who were accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl and leaving her to die on Anjuna beach in 2008, by the Goa Children’s Court.
The duo had been charged under Indian Penal Code sections 304 (II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 354 (assault or use of criminal force on a woman with an intent to outrage her modesty) and 328 (administrating stupefying drug with an intent to cause hurt).
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During the hearing, the CBI argued that the Goa Children’s Court had erroneously acquitted the accused based on technicalities but Mr. D’Souza and Mr. Carcalho’s lawyers claimed that there was no direct evidence to link them to the crime.
This incident had put the spotlight on the issue of women’s safety in Goa after the victim’s mother questioned the probe in the matter and sought to challenge the acquittal.