Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has acquitted a 44-year-old teacher who was sentenced to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment under the POCSO Act and the Indian Penal Code, holding that the prosecution failed to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
High Court Sets Aside 2022 Conviction by Thane Sessions Court
Justice RM Joshi allowed the appeal and set aside the September 14, 2022 conviction recorded by a Thane sessions court.
The appellant had been convicted based on allegations by a former student that he sexually assaulted her in 2019 and later threatened to make a video of the incident viral.
He then approached the high court, through advocate Siddh Vidya, challenging his conviction. Vidya argued that there is an “inordinate delay” in lodging FIR and the same has not been explained satisfactorily. Any unexplained delay would make the court to consider the allegations against the accused and scrutinize the same with more rigor, she added.
Prosecution Case Involved Alleged Assault During Private Tuition
According to the prosecution, the victim, then a minor, attended the accused’s accounts tuition in Navi Mumbai. She alleged that in October 2019, the accused lured her to his residence on the pretext of giving “special notes” and sexually assaulted her, later blackmailing her with threats of defamation. An FIR was lodged in October 2020 after she confided in her parents.
While reiterating that “in offences of sexual assault, the reliable testimony of the victim can form the basis of conviction without corroboration,” the HC found the evidence in this case wanting. It noted an eight-month delay in lodging the FIR and held that “there is no satisfactory explanation provided by the prosecution/victim for lodging report belatedly.”
The court also drew an adverse inference against the prosecution for failing to place on record call logs or messages allegedly sent by the accused to blackmail the victim. “It was not impossible for the prosecution to bring the said evidence on record,” the court observed, adding that its absence weakened the case.
Medical Evidence Held Inconclusive by the Court
On medical evidence, the bench held it was inconclusive. The medical officer, during her testimony before the trial court, had admitted that rupture of the hymen could not be conclusively linked to sexual intercourse without an FSL report, which was not produced. “The evidence led by the prosecution in the form of medical evidence is not conclusive,” the court said.
The HC further expressed serious doubt over the alleged extra-judicial confession, including a voice message purportedly admitting guilt. The circumstances “do not inspire confidence” and it would be “totally unsafe to rely upon” such evidence, the court ruled.
Concluding that the victim’s testimony “does not inspire confidence” and that the accused had successfully rebutted the presumption under Section 29 of the POCSO Act, the court allowed the appeal, quashed the conviction, acquitted the accused of all charges, and cancelled his bail bonds.
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