After 12 Year Trial Court Acquits Man Of Alleged Assault Filming Of Minor Boy

MUMBAI: A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court has acquitted a 31-year-old man in a 2013 case in which he, along with five juveniles in conflict with law, were accused of stripping, sexually assaulting and filming a 14-year-old boy, holding that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt after a trial that lasted over 12 years.

Additional Sessions Judge Mahesh K. Jadhav acquitted the man of all the charges arising out of a case registered by Powai police in October 2013.

According to the prosecution, the victim, then a Class IX student aged about 14 years, had gone with his friends to search for a missing boy near Vihar Lake on October 16, 2013. The prosecution alleged that after a dispute over a theft allegation, the boy was assaulted, stripped naked, forced to dance, sexually assaulted and filmed by a group comprising the accused and five minors.

The complaint was lodged 15 days later after a teacher allegedly showed the victim and his father a video clip of the incident. However, in a judgement delivered on Saturday, the prosecution failed to provide reliable evidence. His testimony was also not corroborated by other evidence.

“The only allegation against the present accused is that he has recorded video in the mobile,” the court noted, finding even that was unsupported by reliable evidence.

The victim himself had stated that the accused did not possess a mobile phone and that another juvenile had allegedly handed over a device to him; however, the prosecution failed to establish this through call detail records or location evidence.

A major reason for the acquittal was the failure to properly prove the electronic evidence. The original mobile phone allegedly used for recording was not recovered, no proper chain of custody was established, hash values were not calculated and statutory requirements relating to electronic evidence were not complied with.

The victim admitted during cross-examination that the accused was not visible in the video clip relied upon by the prosecution. The court said the accused would have been seen or his voice would have been heard in the video clip, if he had committed the acts. “But he is not seen in the video,” the court observed.

The 15-day delay in lodging the FIR further led to the acquittal. The victim continued attending school and was found to be in a normal condition after the incident. “The evidence of victim A is of full material improvements and discrepancies,” the court said.

The victim’s testimony was not “cogent, trustworthy and reliable”, the court said while acquitting the man.