Mumbai: 34-Year-Old Accused Of Assaulting 11-Year-Old Girl Acquitted After 8 Years

Mumbai: The special POCSO court, Dindoshi, has acquitted 34-year-old Rehan Qureshi, booked for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl in June 2017, observing that the prosecution failed to establish the identity of the assaulter and that it was Qureshi.

While holding that there is no other evidence to corroborate the identification of the accused to be the perpetrator of the crime, the special court observed that there were glaring lapses in the test identification parade, wherein the parade was held at the same time for two cases. The court noted that, “if we consider the evidence as to the test identification parade, the same does not inspire confidence as the police, as well as the Tahsildar who conducted the same, did not follow basic principles of prudence.”

Qureshi’s lawyer, Nazneen Khatri, said that he was at the relevant time booked in 22 cases of sexual assault on minors across the city. He has so far been acquitted in three cases, and 19 more cases are pending in the Sessions Courts of Bombay, Navi Mumbai, and Thane. According to the prosecution's case, registered with Goregaon police station, Qureshi is accused of having kidnapped and sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl on June 6, 2017, when she had been to a general store to buy a compass box.

The victim’s mother claimed the girl left home at 4.30 pm and didn’t return by 6.30 pm. At 6.50 pm, the mother received a call from her daughter through a stranger’s number, revealing she was assaulted. The court, after recording testimony, found that though the incident occurred, “there is no evidence to establish the nexus between the accused and the crime.”

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