Nearly three years after a man was convicted of sexual assault and assault of a minor, the Bombay High Court has acquitted him on the ground that the statement of the four-year-old victim cannot be relied upon.
A single bench of Justice Anuja Prabhudesai was hearing a criminal appeal filed by Laxman Verma, challenging an order passed by the Protection of Children from Special Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, which sentenced him to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. was heard.
The High Court held that the Sessions Judge had failed to assess the credibility of the four-year-old girl and hence it was necessary to examine her evidence to ascertain whether she was a competent witness. The court noted that the sessions judge recorded that she was unable to recall the facts and therefore allowed the public prosecutor to ask her key questions.
“The tenure of the answers given by the victim to the examination-in-chief as well as at cross-examination indicate that she did not have the cognitive skills to recall, recall and narrate the event, or the intellectual capacity and maturity to understand The nature of the questions and giving a reasoned answer. Consequently, the girl cannot be considered a competent witness. The duration of her statement indicates that she was under the influence of her mother.
While setting aside the conviction, the court said, “Therefore the Sessions Judge has committed a gross mistake in recording the conviction on the basis of a short statement of the minor, who was neither competent nor a credible witness.”
On 11 May 2017, the girl complained to her mother about pain in her private part. He told her that Verma, who was hired to paint a neighbor’s house, made her sit on his lap and touched her inappropriately. The next day, an FIR was registered and the girl was taken to the hospital for medical examination.
Soon after, a charge sheet was filed and, after a trial, Verma was booked under sections 354 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage woman’s modesty), 354A (sexual assault and penal for sexual assault) and 10 (punishment for punishment). Serious sexual assault under POCSO Act).
,