Thane, Apr 21 A special court here has acquitted an auto rickshaw driver accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in 2020 as the victim and her mother remained untraceable during the trial.
Ruby U Malvankar, special judge for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, absolved Ajay alias Langda alias Sonu Omprakash Tiwari of all charges in the judgement passed on April 17. The order copy became available on Tuesday.
As per the First Information Report, the girl went missing from home in April 2020. She later turned up at the police station and claimed that she was in a relationship with Tiwari who had taken her to Bhayandar and made inappropriate physical contact.
But the prosecution's case collapsed in the court as neither the girl nor her mother could be traced afterwards.
"In a case of sexual assault, the prime and important witnesses for the prosecution can nobody else other than the victim herself. However, apparently the first informant and victim were repeatedly issued witness summons and as per the reports, both of them could not be found," the court noted.
The court therefore ordered the acquittal of the accused, who had been arrested in July 2020 and released on bail in November 2020.
