Thane: A local court has acquitted a man accused of kidnapping and raping a 17-year-old girl in 2018. It observed that the physical relations between the accused and the victim appear to be “consensual.”
Special Judge (POCSO Act cases) Ruby U Malvankar, in her judgement on September 21, said the victim was not a child at the relevant period, so the charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO) couldn't be invoked.
She gave the accused the benefit of the doubt, stating that the "prosecution failed to prove the charges against him."
The case was filed against the accused based on a complaint by the girl’s father on April 11, 2018. She was working as domestic help in the district and allegedly went missing. Later, Thane Police traced her to a slum colony at Uttan in the Bhayander area of the district. Following the statement by the girl’s family, a kidnapping and rape case was filed against the accused.
However, during court proceedings, the girl testified that she entered into a consensual relationship with the accused with a desire to marry him.
Although the medical examination of the girl proved sexual relations between the victim and the accused, it cannot be termed as forcible or against her wishes, the court noted. “In fact, at the relevant time, the victim was very much a consenting party to such relations," it said.
The court said that the investigation officer also admitted during the cross-examination that no forcible kidnapping of the victim was revealed during the probe.
“The IO also does not appear to have recorded the statement of some of the important witnesses for the whole episode,” it said.
Among the prosecution's witnesses was the girl’s mother, whose evidence was also declared “more like hearsay,” which “cannot be given extra weight," the court concluded.
