After spending 7 years in jail, a 41-year-old man has been acquitted in a POCSO case. The special court ruled that there was a possibility of mistaken identity, as the statements of the mentally disabled child were contradictory during the identification of the accused.
The court observed that the victim’s identification of the accused was not supported by reliable evidence. During the identification process, the child initially stated she did not know the accused, only changing her response to ‘yes’ when prompted by the special public prosecutor.
Defense lawyer Kalpana Waskar argued that the accused was falsely implicated. Despite four attempts to secure bail, the special POCSO court had denied bail over the years.
In October 2015, the child’s mother, a widow, reported to the police that the accused first assaulted her child in July 2015. She alleged that on September 29, 2015, the accused beat and raped the child in a public toilet. The mother discovered blood on the child’s undergarments but hesitated to report the incident to the police, fearing damage to her reputation. She finally went to the police on October 1, 2015, after the accused’s brother beat her son.
The court noted that the victim’s statements were contradictory, making her testimony unreliable for identifying the accused. “The accused cannot be held guilty with such doubtful evidence. In criminal justice, if two interpretations are possible, the one beneficial to the accused should be adopted,” said special judge Harsha Chetan Shende.
The judge added, “The possibility of the victim being tutored by interested parties cannot be ruled out. Her evidence, therefore, becomes doubtful and not of sterling quality.”
