Delhi: Court acquits two in minor’s sexual harassment case

A court here has acquitted two men charged with the offence of sexually harassing a 17-year-old minor, saying there was not an iota of evidence against them.

Additional Sessions Judge Muneesh Garg, who also acquitted two women charged with the offences of criminally intimidating, trespassing, and voluntarily causing hurt to the girl, said the alleged victim and her mother had turned hostile and completely denied the prosecution’s case.

The order dated February 25, a certified copy of which was made available on March 10, said the key witnesses, the minor and mother, deposed about a heated exchange of words between the mother and the accused, following which some police officials were called on the date of the alleged incident.

“However, as far as allegations of criminal house trespass, sexual harassment beatings and criminal intimidation are concerned, none of the material witnesses (minor and her mother) deposed anything against the accused persons,” the court said.

It said that the girl denied having made a complaint against the accused and that her statement in the complaint was written by a person from her NGO, which she unwittingly signed.

The court noted that the accused were the minor’s relatives and resided in the same building as part of a joint family. It noted that there was a family dispute.

During cross-examination, the girl denied that she was beaten, criminally intimidated or sexually harassed, it said.

“It is apparent from the deposition of the victim and complainant (her mother) that there is no incriminating material on record to convict the accused persons as they denied the prosecution case. There is not an iota of evidence to link the accused persons with the alleged incident, and nothing incriminating had been seized from their mobile phones,” the court said.

Acquitting the four accused persons, the court said the prosecution had failed to pass the basic test of proving its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

According to the complaint, in May 2019, the two men had entered the girl’s room when she was going to take a bath, put a pistol to her head, intimidated her with a knife, forcibly undressed her, shot her nude video and threatened to make the video viral.

It said that the two men made indecent gestures to her daughter and the two women committed several “atrocities” on the minor, and in June 2021, all accused thrashed the victim.

Because of the incidents, the minor faced mental health issues, the complaint said, adding the offences were committed to forcibly evict them from the house. — PTI