A Thane court has acquitted a man accused of raping a girl alleged to be a minor, citing insufficient evidence to establish her age and observing that the relationship appeared to be "more or less consensual in nature."
The prosecution failed to prove the allegations against the 22-year-old man beyond a reasonable doubt, special judge for POCSO Act cases, Ruby U Malvankar observed in the judgment on November 13.
The accused and the victim resided in the Bhayander area of Maharashtra's Thane district. The man was arrested on May 19, 2020, following an FIR lodged on a complaint by the victim's mother, alleging harassment, abusive calls, and threats by the accused.
He was charged under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and released on bail on August 20, 2020.
The victim later in her statement claimed they had fallen in love and were in a "deep relationship."
The court noted the critical importance of age in POCSO Act cases.
"As per Section 2(d), POCSO Act, a 'child' is a person below the age of 18 years. Hence, it is the primary onus on the prosecution to prove that the victim is a child," it said.
The victim's birth date was stated as June 24, 2003, and her mother claimed to have submitted a photocopy of the birth certificate.
The court, however, said, "Throughout the trial, the original birth certificate reflecting the date of birth of the victim was not produced on record. Resultantly, therefore, there is no evidence on record to conclusively arrive at any legitimate inference in respect of her precise date of birth." "Therefore, in the absence of any such evidence, the prosecution has failed to prove that the victim was a 'child' below 18 years of age at the relevant time when the incident allegedly took place." The judge also highlighted several admissions by the victim.
"...her relations with the accused were mostly voluntary, consensual, and of her own free will. She also admitted that if her mother would not have approached the police station, the victim herself would have never gone to the police," the court said.
"...she wanted to marry the accused, and she wanted to have their love affair end in their marriage, and for that purpose, even the relatives from both sides had met each other," it noted.
The relationship between the accused and the victim was "more or less consensual in nature," the court observed.
"The elements of the offences do not get established against the accused and hence, the answers to all the points are required to be recorded in the negative, and the accused deserves to be acquitted," it said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
