Panaji: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has acquitted an accused in an alleged rape case.
The High Court observed that in this case, the accused was arrested on February 26, 2013 and has been in custody ever since. This means that the accused has already suffered imprisonment for about 7 years even though, there was no evidence on record to establish that he had committed the offence for which he was specifically charged.
This appeal was directed against the judgment and order dated December 16, 2016 made by the Children’s Court in a special case convicting the appellant accused from Tiswadi. The accused was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a term of 10 years and fine of Rs 2 lakh, and in default, imprisonment of 2 years for the offence punishable under Section 376 IPC, 8(2) of the Goa Children’s Act, 2003 and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
It was the case of the prosecution that on February 24, 2013 the accused took a minor into the bushes in Pernem and had forcible sexual intercourse with her. On the same date the accused threatened to cause death of the victim by drowning her and also threatened to cause death of her mother in case she disclosed the incident to anyone.
A counsel for the appellant, at the outset submits that the charge framed against the accused in this case related only to a single incident dated February 24, 2013. He pointed out that in relation to this single incident, there is no evidence on record.
