The court also awarded a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the accused. (Representational image)
A Delhi court has acquitted a man accused of sexually assaulting minors, noting that the children were heavily tutored by their parents and that there is ample evidence to show that he was falsely framed due to "caste hatred".
District and Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma said that there is ample evidence to suggest that the accused was falsely framed due to the prejudicial disposition of the parents towards the accused, who belongs to the Dalit community.
"It is our experience in manning criminal justice delivery system that people level false accusations for myriad reasons, one of which is caste hatred as exemplified in appreciation of evidence in this case," he said in a judgment dated August 7.
The case was registered against the man in 2015 under the provisions of the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for sexually assaulting the minor daughters of his neighbour. He was in jail since then.
The case clearly appears to be a result of "heavy tutoring" to implicate the accused with the allegations of repeated acts of sexual assaults at the behest of their parents, the judge said, calling it a sinister act done in the most shameless manner.
"In our society, there is a constant fight between the ''good'' and the ''evil'' and we are living in an age where the moral values in the society are degenerating and everything is possible," the district judge lamented.
The court directed a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to be paid to the accused by the state within two months, calling it a "symbolic amount".
He also pulled up the police and called their probe "absolutely lackadaisical and lacking objectivity", noting that they neither prepared a site plan nor made attempt to understand the locality in which the alleged events occurred.
"No reason is assigned as to why the statements of the victim girls under Section 161 CrPC were not recorded by a lady police official. The testimony of the IO reveals that he completely failed in the discharge of his duties to show fairness in his investigation against the accused," the court observed.
Notably, the parents of minors asserted that the accused used to lure the girls to his house and assault them, a claim refuted by him.
The accused, who has now been acquitted of all charges, told the court parents bore a grudge against him as dogs belonging to them defecated in front of his house and there were constant arguments over this.