NOIDA: A special POCSO court on Thursday acquitted a man accused of raping a minor in Feb 2023 after the victim, now of age, retracted the FIR, saying she they are now happily married and she had filed a complaint on her family’s insistence.Additional sessions judge Vikas Nagar said the allegations against the accused, which included penetrative sexual assault on the victim, taking obscene photos of her and sharing them on social media platforms, were not proven beyond reasonable doubt. “Concludingly, the accused is liable to be acquitted of the charged offences,” the court ruled, while directing the man to execute a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and furnish one surety of the like amount within a week in compliance with Section 437-A CrPC.The case in the matter was filed at the Beta-2 police station on Feb 25, 2023, by the minor. She said she knew the man whom for the last eight months. The plaintiff said on Feb 23, he had lured her to his home where he raped her and took obscene photos of her. She also accused the man of posting those obscene photos and videos the next day on social media platforms.Based on the complaint, police registered a case under Section 354 IPC (using criminal force to outrage the modesty of a woman) and Section 67 IT Act (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form). After recording the statement of the plaintiff and conducting her medical test, police filed a chargesheet under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) IPC and section 3/4 POCSO Act and section 67 IT Act on April 24, following which the special POCSO court framed charges on June 1.Prosecution presented three witnesses, including the plaintiff, her mother and brother-in-law, to prove the case, all of whom stated that they were not willing to go ahead with the case as the alleged victim and the accused are now married and are parents to a daughter.Appearing as PW1, the plaintiff said that she solemnised marriage with the accused on Oct 27 the same year and now they are both living together. “None in the family have objection to our marriage and the accused takes proper care of me,” she informed the court.Having heard all sides, the court noted that the plaintiff gave highly contradictory statements in her evidence and the prosecution did not produce any video to support the claim that the accused blackmailed the victim with the obscene videos.The judge also noted that the victim’s mother, examined as PW2, had also not clarified the date and time of the alleged kidnapping. “This witness has further stated that the accused did not commit a forcible act upon the body of the victim. Therefore, the hostile evidence of this witness does not support the prosecution story,” the court held, agreeing that the accused deserved the benefit of doubt.
