Man walks free in sodomy case

Chandigarh, October 26

Judge, Fast-Track Special Court, Swati Sehgal has acquitted a 50-year-old person, who was accused of sodomising a two-year-old boy, after the prosecution failed to prove the charges.

The police registered the case in 2019 on a complaint filed by a counsellor of the woman-child helpline, who alleged that a boy aged two was sexually assaulted by the accused. Finding a prima facie case, the court framed charges against him, but he pleaded not guilty and claimed a trial.

Rohit Mahajan, advocate for the accused, argued that he had been falsely implicated in the case. He argued that the complainant herself said in the complaint that she was submitting a complaint to the police only for the reason that mandatory reporting was required under the POCSO Act. He further argued that the child’s parents had not come forward to lodge a complaint against the accused.

Both parents were examined in the court as prosecution witnesses but they did not support the prosecution version. Apart from them, there was no other prosecution witness on the basis of whose testimony, the alleged offence could be proved to the hilt.

He argued that the mother of the child, in a statement recorded under Section164, CrPC, did not allege anything against the accused. Mahajan said even the medical examination report of the victim did not support the prosecution’s case. After hearing of the arguments, the court acquitted the accused of the charges.