Father, daughter turn hostile, court acquits youth in rape case

A special court in Dindoshi last month end acquitted a 21-year-old of the charge of kidnapping and rape after the father of the minor “victim” who filed the case and the minor herself did not support the prosecution’s case during trial.

The complaint was filed against the youth by the 16year-old’s father in 2017 as they had eloped to UP. After the police complaint, the Powai police had brought the duo to the city, sent them for necessary medical checks and got the girl’s statement recorded before a magistrate.

During the trial, however, the father told the court that the accused is his sonin-law, having married his daughter in 2019 and that he did not want to proceed with the case. He said he lodged the complaint after his daughter went missing as he did not like the affair between the two.

Similarly, the daughter told the court that she had a love affair with the accused and having gone to UP with him, she had stayed at her friend’s home and that there was no sexual relations between them then. She said she herself had been to the police station and denied that a doctor had examined her or that her clothes were seized by the police. She also denied that her statement was recorded before the magistrate.

Additional Sessions Judge AZ Khan said in his judgment that the prosecutor had cross-examined the duo at length but nothing was brought on record to shatter their material version. He further stated that the case had been closed for examination thereafter as examining other witnesses would have been futile, when the victim and the complainant had not supported the case and conviction could not have been sustained.