Teenager acquitted of raping classmate

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 2

A 19-year-old boy has been acquitted by a local court of the charges of raping his minor classmate.

According to the prosecution, an FIR was registered under Section 376 (2) of the IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act against the boy at the Sector 19 police station on August 12, 2018. The case was registered on the complaint of a resident of Zirakpur.

In the FIR, the victim stated that she was a student of Class XII in a government school. She met the suspect in the school. She alleged that the boy raped her at his house on the pretext of marriage on April 17, 2018. He took her to his house several times and allegedly raped her. When she insisted for marriage, the boy denied and threatened her with dire consequences. On this, she informed her mother about the issue.

Charges were framed against the suspect on November 12, 2018, for committing an offence punishable under Section 376 (2) (N) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

During the trial, defence counsel Anil Kumar Joshi argued that the boy was falsely implicated in the case. There was a delay of nearly four months in lodging the FIR after the alleged incident, he said. A daily diary report was also lodged by the mother of the victim before the FIR was filed, wherein nowhere it was mentioned that the girl had been raped by the suspect.

The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge acquitted the boy as the prosecution could not prove the allegations.