Mumbai Court acquits alleged serial sexual abuser in one of several cases

Rehan Qureshi, who has been accused of raping around 20 minors, was recently acquitted by a Sessions Court at Dindoshi, Mumbai in a sexual harassment case filed against him [State of Maharashtra v. Rehan Qureshi]..A special judge dealing with cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) concluded that the prosecution had failed to prove its case against Qureshi in this case. "In view of the above discussion on record, prosecution has utterly failed to prove the charges levelled against the accused therefore, benefit of doubt goes to the accused. Hence, the accused deserves to be acquitted," the special judge SM Takalikar said in a May 13 verdict..Qureshi was arrested in October 2018 by the Navi Mumbai police after they traced him using CCTV footage. At the time, DNA profiling was reportedly used to implicate him in an eight-year-old rape and murder case involving two minors.After his arrest, he is reported to have confessed to raping and molesting several minor girls in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane regions of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region..The case in which Qureshi was acquitted on May 13 dates back to 2015. A 10-year-old girl had gone missing for a few hours in the evening before she returned home at around 7.30 PM. On being asked where she had been, the girl said that she was cornered by a boy. She alleged that the boy claimed that he was supposed to hand over a bedsheet to her on her mother's instructions. When the girl said she would ask her mother about it, the boy is alleged to have threatened her and dragged her to a building where she was asked to wait for another man. The girl, however, left the building once the boy was out of sight and returned home. Her mother then filed a criminal case against unknown persons. During the investigation, Qureshi was booked for the crime under Sections 354 (outraging modesty of women), 341 (wrongful restraint), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as well as Section 12 (sexual harassment) of the POCSO Act. He was arrested in this case in 2019. .The prosecution relied on seven witnesses to support their case. They claimed that the victim had identified the accused during a test identification parade. The public prosecutor added that the accused (Qureshi) is a habitual offender. .Qureshi denied all the allegations. His counsel asserted that there was no molestation or touching of body parts. Qureshi's lawyer also questioned whether the victim was able to properly identify the accused since the crime allegedly took place in darkness. .The Court found force in submissions made by Qureshi's lawyer and also noted that the victim had identified the accused after a gap of four years."It is necessary to mention here that admittedly victim stated that there was darkness at the time of alleged incident. It is difficult to believe that victim can recognize the accused after 4 years. Particularly when at the time of incident, there was darkness," the Court observed.It, therefore, proceeded to find the entire incident doubtful. "The person dragged the girl for 5 to 8 minutes; the surrounding person looked at the incident. The victim would have shouted or the person who was watching the incident would have intervened with the accused. Therefore, the incident itself is doubtful," the Court held while acquitting Qureshi..While he has been acquitted in this case, he continues to remain in jail in connection with the other cases filed against him. .Additional public prosecutor Malankar appeared for the State of Maharashtra.Advocate Nazneen Khatri appeared for Qureshi..[Read Judgment]