People level false accusations for reason of caste hatred: Delhi Court acquits Dalit man in child rape case, awards him ₹1 lakh compensation

A Delhi court recently acquitted a Dalit man accused of offences under the provisions of the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for sexually assaulting minors, holding that he was “framed” due to the “prejudicial disposition” of victims' parents toward him..In a rarity, Principal District and Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma awarded ₹ 1 lakh to the "accused victim" as a "token monetary compensation" to be paid by the State..The compensation order held, "It may be reiterated that amount of compensation awarded by this Court is a symbolic amount and without prejudice to his legal rights and contentions. Thus, the accused victim shall be entitled to seek compensation under any other civil and constitutional remedies available to him under the law of land.".As per the prosecution, the cause of the dispute between the accused and his neighbours (parents of the victim) was the defecation of dogs owned by the neighbour in front of the accused's house.The Court noted that though the argument of the prosecution that it was not conceivable for the parents of the survivors to have fabricated the episodes and tutored their children over a petty dispute over the dogs was impressive, due to the “degenerating” values in our society, anything could happen."In our society there is constant fight between the ‘good’ and the ‘evil’ and we are living in an age where the moral values in the society are degenerating and everything is possible. It is our experience in manning criminal justice delivery system that people level a false accusations for myriad reasons, one of which is caste hatred as exemplified in appreciation of evidence in this case, and they do so without sensitivity about the honour, dignity, life and liberty of their opponents,” the verdict underscored..‘Sinister act of tutoring'.Further, the Court was in “no hesitation” in holding that the survivors’ parents had carried out a “sinister act of tutoring their daughters in a most brazen and shameless manner.”The Court went on to add that merely because accusations or charges against the accused are "grave, severed or despicable," the Court had dispassionately examined, evaluated and appreciated the evidence to arrive at its conclusion.“The testimony of the victim girls examined vis-a-vis their parents viz. PW-2, PW-3 and PW-7 makes the case of prosecution highly improbable and there is ample evidence to suggest that accused has been falsely framed due to prejudicial disposition of the parents towards the accused, who belongs to a dalit community who was resenting defecation of his place by the dogs of PW-3 resulting in petty quarrels as between the father of the PW-1 and the accused,” the judgment highlighted..Being unable to persuade itself to believe the versions of the victims, the Court said it “clearly” appeared that such testimonies were a result of “heavy tutoring to implicate the accused with repeated acts of sexual assaults at the behest of their parents.”The Court stated that the parents refusing their daughters to be internally examined had only invited an “adverse inference” that they were not subjected to repeated acts of sexual assault.“The instant case is a stark example where testimony of one victim girl renders testimony of other victim girls examined vis-a-vis the testimony of their parents highly improbable and untrustworthy. I am unable to persuade myself to render a finding guilty on such shaky foundation. Thus, where the prosecution has failed to prove the foundational facts for the version of the victims being inconsistent, improbable and replete with untrue facts, the presumption under Section 29 of the POCSO Act cannot be drawn,” it held..The trial stemmed from a case registered in 2015, whereby the man was accused by his neighbour of sexually assaulting his minor daughters. During the course of the hearings, the charges were ordered to be amended and he was put on trial for the offence of “aggravated penetrative sexual assault” after the State filed a plea to that effect.The Court said that the argument that the accused had repeatedly assaulted the survivors either in front of his house or sometimes in a dark alley, was “not palatable” given the neighbourhood was in “densely populated” area, which was an unauthorised colony.“It is not conceivable that the accused would to such acts in day or in the evening just across the house of the victim’s father…”The verdict also pointed out, “In view of the fact that the testimonies of the victim girls and their parents have been found to be unworthy of credence or trustworthy, there is no corroboration in the nature of internal medical examination, which was refused by them for the reasons not explained by the prosecution, and thus it raises an adverse inference that the story with regard to alleged repeated sexual assaults by the accused was false.”.Lackadaisical investigation.The investigation was in the case was termed as being “absolutely lackadaisical and lacking objectivity,” for it came to Court’s notice that the police had neither prepared a site plan nor was any attempt made to understand the locality in which the alleged events occurred. Further, it was held,“No reason is assigned as to why the statements of the victim girls under Section 161 CrPC were not recorded by a lady police official. The testimony of the IO reveals that he completely failed in the discharge of his duties to show fairness in his investigation against the accused."The version of the victim girls that the accused enticed them by offering money was stated to be a “complete distortion of facts probably based on tutoring by their parents.”One of the witness testimonies had claimed that the accused was drunk when he assaulted the child.“It appears that the IO was in hurry to get the FIR registered and it was belatedly amended adding sections 5 and 6 of the POCSO Act. Interestingly, the report of the medical examination of the accused is not filed and the same is found in the police file, which shows that he was medically examined at 2.45 hours but there is no observation that he was under the influence of liquor or smell bad alcoholic breath," the Court observed..The testimonies of the main prosecution witnesses were stated to be replete with contradictions, inconsistencies and improvements, and not termed to be of “sterling quality.”"'Men may lie but the circumstances do not' is the cardinal principle of evaluation of evidence. The accused has discharged the burden of proving his innocence from the evidence of the prime witnesses that have been examined by the prosecution as also in his defence. The prosecution miserably fails to prove its case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt," the Court said.The accused was, therefore, acquitted of all the charges.