HC quashes sexual assault FIR against man

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has quashed an FIR lodged against a man for allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor girl, saying prima facie no act of sexual nature has been committed by him.

The court said it was of the view that if the present proceedings were to continue, it would be an exercise in futility, causing only greater stress to the girl.

Justice Asha Menon allowed the 21-year-old man’s plea and quashed the FIR lodged him at Rajinder Nagar police station here for the alleged offences of kidnapping and sexual assault on a minor and other proceedings emanating from it.

The high court noted that in view of the statement given by the girl to the magistrate, it was apparent that no act of sexual nature has been committed by the man upon the prosecutrix and prima facie the offences under the POCSO Act are not made out.

Advocate Parth Goswami, representing the man, submitted that the complainant and the accused have entered into a settlement on the basis of which quashing of the FIR was being sought in the high court.

According to the FIR, a complaint was lodged by the girl’s father in 2019 claiming that his daughter, who was then 17 years and nine months old, was missing.

The petition said the girl and the man, who used to work at her father’s salon, became friends and later he shifted to Bengaluru.

The man said the girl also reached Bengaluru to meet him and refused to return to her parents and stayed there for a few days in a hotel.

Later, the girl recorded a statement before the magistrate that no physical relations were established between her and the man and that she had gone to Bengaluru to meet him on her own will.

Following the FIR, the man was arrested and sent to judicial custody but later granted bail by the court.