MUMBAI: Nearly two years after a 28-year-old man was convicted and sentenced to jail by a Pocso court for raping a six-year-old girl in 2014, the Bombay HC exonerated him on Monday as DNA of the semen recovered from her dress did not match with the blood sample taken from him. The HC said the child’s inconsistent testimony alone could not be used to convict the accused.
A bench of Justices S S Shinde and Makarand Karnik on Monday quashed and set aside the February 5, 2019 conviction saying the child’s inconsistent testimony alone could not be used to convict the accused. “We find it unsafe to convict the accused only on the basis of the testimony of the victim without there being further corroboration to her testimony showing the complicity of the accused,” wrote Justice Karnik for the bench. The child was sleeping on the pavement with her family on August 21, 2014, when she disappeared between 2am and 6 am. Her mother found her crying nearby and brutalised with a broom. The accused was arrested after the mother said he had ill-intention toward her and her daughter.
The judges said the child’s testimony about the identity of the accused appeared inconsistent. She identified him as her father’s friend, but also deposed that she had not seen him prior to the incident. The judges then considered the forensic evidence.