CUTTACK: Over a year after two persons were arrested for alleged abduction and gangrape of a 14-year-old girl, the Special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Court here acquitted them of the charges on Tuesday after finding it to be a ‘case of mistake of fact’.
The two are autorickshaw driver Rakesh Rout (25) and Santosh Behera (22), a meat seller. The presiding judge Subash Kumar Behari said that after careful scrutiny of the evidence, it appears that the victim and her parents have not supported the case of the prosecution at all.
The victim has stated in her cross examination that she had not asked any authority of the Child Welfare Committee to lodge an FIR. Police allegedly tutored her to give the statement before the magistrate.
Both her parents in their cross examinations have stated that the two youths have neither misbehaved nor raped the girl and the case against the accused persons is totally false besides, they have not been examined by the police. In his order the judge further said that taking into consideration the entirety of the evidence on record, particularly the victim and her parents, the court is of the opinion and considered view that the prosecution has failed miserably to prove its case against the accused persons and there is no iota of evidence against the youths.
“In view of the facts and circumstances of the case and evidence on record, the accused persons Santosh and Rakesh are found not guilty for the offences and they are acquitted of the charges”, the judge added.
Both Santosh and Rakesh have been in custody since October 15, 2020. Advocate Sapan Kumar Behera argued the case for both of them.
The prosecution story was that while the girl was waiting to board a bus at the OMP square in Cuttack, Rakesh offered to take her to Badambadi in his autorickshaw. He, however, took her to Santosh’s chicken shop at Gatiroutpatna. She was confined to a room behind the shop and raped by them for over 20 days till she was rescued in presence of police. Narayan Shukla, coordinator of Childline, had lodged a complaint at the Chauliaganj police station on October 13, 2020.