BENGALURU: A POCSO court here has ordered Mangaluru women’s police station Inspector AC Lokesh and his team to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh from their pockets to two persons, who had to languish in jail for months due to shoddy investigation into the rape case of a minor girl.
While acquitting the victim’s father, who was the lone person named in the chargesheet, Additional District & Sessions Court Judge KM Radhakrishna observed a number of serious lapses in the police investigation with the major one being the police giving a clean chit to three other accused in the case even before they received the DNA report.
The order pointed out that the IO cleverly ignored Sandesh, whom the victim had earlier accused of rape, by not collecting his blood samples for the DNA test, which exposes his intention to protect him. The victim had changed her statements many times before finally accusing her father of being responsible for her pregnancy which was later terminated. The defence, however, argued that the statement was manipulated and influenced by the police as the endorsement did not bear the signatures of the staff of Balamandir from where she accused her father of rape.
At the fag end of the trial, the court received the DNA report. According to DNA experts, none of the three accused named in the FIR including the victim’s father are the biological father to the foetus of the victim. “The IO blindly filed the chargesheet against the victim’s father only on the basis of the victim’s manipulated statement,” read the order.
Judge Radhakrishna observed, “The IO and his team have truly committed the impropriety to such an honour for their selfishness and indicates that they are a stigma to society. They shall be held responsible for the false implication of the innocent persons in the process of protecting the real and possible culprits. Admittedly, the victim’s father and Prasad who have become real victims at the hands of IO are daily wagers. They were put behind bars for 8 months and two months respectively.”
The order said the IO and his team have to indemnify the injustice by way of paying the compensation of Rs 4 lakh to victim’s father and Rs 1 lakh to Prasad within 40 days so that it could be a lesson for officers who involve in such illegalities and lawlessness.
Holding the IO and his team responsible for investigation lapses, manipulation of documents, and misuse of power and position, the judge directed to forward a copy of the judgment to the principal secretary of home affairs and Mangaluru city police commissioner for necessary action against the erring officials.