Man cleared of POCSO case after two-and-a-half years in jail
A Bandra resident accused of sexually abusing his minor daughter has been acquitted by a POCSO court in Mumbai after spending two years and nine months in jail. The court found that the man's estranged wife had filed a false case against him, seeking divorce. The survivor did not support the prosecution's case, and the court found that the wife had a grudge against the accused. The court held that the wife had filed a false complaint against her husband and acquitted him.
MUMBAI: A special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) court on Tuesday acquitted a Bandra resident arrested for sexually abusing his minor daughter, after he spent two years and nine months behind bars. The court said that the estranged wife of the man had filed a false case against him, as she was seeking divorce from him.
“Admittedly the informant (wife of the accused and mother of the survivor) is living in adultery and seeking divorce from the accused. Therefore, the informant has a grudge against the accused because of which she has filed the false complaint,” the court said while acquitting the man. Besides, the court said the survivor did not support the case of prosecution and allegations made in the complaint.
According to the prosecution, the wife of the accused, who has a 13-year-old daughter, had left the accused a year before she lodged the police complaint in February 2020. In her complaint, she claimed that on February 3, 2020, the survivor visited her residence and complained of abdominal pain.
The complainant claimed that when she enquired with her daughter, she told her that on February 2, 2020, when everyone was sleeping, the accused sexually abused her, and the girl later ran to her mother’s house. The complainant had alleged that from the time she had left the house of the accused, he had been sexually abusing the girl.
However, when the trial began, the survivor denied any such incident had taken place. She claimed in her testimony that for four to five years her mother was staying with another person because of which they were not on talking terms with her.
The teenager also said that since the mother left, the accused used to be stressed and drank liquor and beat her and her siblings. She further said that there used to be quarrels between the accused and her mother. Further when she was taken for medical examination and for statements to police, she had denied that there was any pain in her stomach.
During her cross-examination, the complainant had admitted that due to illicit relations, she was living separately from the accused, and she had filed a false complaint against the accused in the name of her daughter. Further, she had admitted that she wanted to marry the other man and was seeking divorce from accused.
Considering the evidence, the court held that the wife had filed a false complaint against her husband, as she was seeking divorce, and acquitted the Bandra resident.