A sessions court on Thursday acquitted a man booked for abusing and pelting stones on policemen who were patrolling near Chowpatty after he was irked with them as they asked him to leave from the spot where they had found sitting in the middle of the night.
Additional Sessions Judge AC Daga while acquitting Jayesh Karbhari observed that the prosecution had failed to prove the identity of the accused as the one who committed the crime and therefore the chain of circumstantial evidence was not completed. Judge Daga also said that it was for the prosecution to establish that on the given date and time the policeman was on duty as a public servant.
As per the testimony in court of John Fernandes, the complainant, he had been on patrolling duty in Chowpatty on October 2, 2018 when at 2 AM he had seen a man sitting on the compound wall of the beach. He had told the man to leave and the man had moved towards the signal. On his patrolling round after few minutes, he had again see the man at the same spot. This time when he confronted the man, he refused to leave and challenged that Fernandes can do whatever he wants. The man stated abusing him and his colleague and then ran towards Babulnath while pelting stones at them.
As per the complaint, they contacted the control room and a police party arrived. People of the locality who had woken up due to the noise told the police where the man lived and he was nabbed.
Among the witnesses was also the colleague and a medical officer who testified that Fernandes had redness and swelling of his upper eye-lid when she examined him.
