Minor & parents turn hostile in court, harassers walk free

Gurgaon: Two youths accused of sexually harassing a minor girl in front of her mother in 2022 have been acquitted by a Rewari court. The girl and her parents turned hostile in court and refused to identify the accused, even though the complainant had named them at the time of filing a police complaint. The minor also refused to support the case of prosecution, and the duo were acquitted of all charges.
Public prosecutor Sanjay Suhag said the girl (then 14 years old), student of Class 9, was walking home from school with her mother around 3pm on August 26, 2022 when two men on a motorcycle allegedly accosted them. One of the men asked the minor to befriend him and sought her mobile number. When the girl objected, he allegedly grabbed her hand, while the other man grabbed her hair. They harassed and threatened the girl of dire consequences. When she and her mother raised the alarm, they drove off.
The next day, a case was registered under sections 354A (making sexually coloured remarks), 506 (threat to cause death or grievous hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC as well as relevant sections of the Pocso Act against Sagar, a resident of Rewari’s Gudyani village, and Nivesh from Gazi-Gopalpur village.
After an investigation, police arrested the accused and recovered the bike from their possession.
During the court trial, the girl narrated the entire incident, but refused to identify the accused. Her parents too refused to identify the accused, claiming that the youths who misbehaved with their daughter were strangers and they didn’t know who they were.
“The girl and her parents didn’t support the case of the prosecution and were declared hostile. During a cross-examination, the minor and her mother admitted that they had signed the police complaint and narrated the incident, but refused to identify the accused,” Suhag said.
Ajit Bharadwaj, the counsel for the accused, said the case was without substance. “Both youths were acquitted as the prosecution wasn’t able to link them with the case,” he said.
Additional sessions judge of the Rewari fast-track special court Archana Yadav, in her order dated April 5, observed that all material witnesses, including the girl and her parents, didn’t support the case of the prosecution. “Nothing incriminating against the accused could be extracted by the prosecution in their cross-examination,” the order stated.
“There is no cogent and convincing evidence on record to link the accused with the crime In these circumstances, it would be neither safe nor in the interest of justice to hold the accused guilty for the commission of offence,” the court observed, acquitting the duo.