New Delhi, Mar 23 A Delhi court has acquitted a man accused in a 2014 kidnapping case after the prosecution failed to establish the charges beyond a reasonable doubt, primarily due to the victim remaining untraceable.
Additional Sessions Judge Puneet Pahwa was hearing a case against Sunil Kumar, who was accused of kidnapping a 17-year-old girl.
There is nothing on record which could prove his guilt in the case, he asserted.
In an order dated March 19, the court said, "The prosecution has failed to examine any witness, who could prove the alleged offences committed by the accused and there is nothing on record against the accused which could incriminate him in the present case."
Kumar was arrested after a case was registered in July 2014 at Sonia Vihar Police Station on the complaint of Deen Dayal, who alleged that his daughter had gone missing from the house along with cash and clothes and suspected that someone had enticed her away.
However, during the trial, the complainant, who appeared as the only public witness, did not support the prosecution's case and did not depose anything incriminating against the accused.
The girl was produced before the police by her father in June 2017, following which Kumar was arrested based on the identification of the complainant and the alleged victim, and a chargesheet was filed against him.
The court noted that the girl could not be traced despite repeated efforts. The investigating officer informed the court that even the victim's parents were unaware of her whereabouts, leading the court to drop her from the list of witnesses.
"None of the essential ingredients for the offences under IPC Section 363 (kidnapping), 366 (abduction to compel marriage) and 506 (criminal intimidation) with which the accused was charged, could be proved by the prosecution," the judge said.
The court said the only material on record was the victim's statement recorded before a magistrate, which by itself was insufficient to prove the accused's guilt in the absence of her testimony during trial.
"In order to hold an accused guilty, all ingredients of the offence must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. In the present case, the prosecution has failed to meet that standard," the court said while acquitting Kumar.
