Mumbai, December 16: The Bombay High Court on Monday overturned a POCSO court's order convicting a 28-year-old for raping a six-year-old girl in 2014. The accused was exonerated by the Bombay High Court because the DNA of the semen recovered from the victim's dress did not match with the blood sample taken from him. The POCSO court had sentenced him to life imprisonment. Freedom of Speech And Expression Not an Absolute Right: Bombay High Court.

According to a report by TOI, the girl, who was sleeping with her family on the pavement, had gone missing between 2 am and 6 am on August 21, 2014. Her mother found her crying nearby and brutalised with a broom. Police arrested the accused based on the mother's allegation that he had ill-intention toward her and her daughter. On February 5 in 2019, a POCSO court found him guilty and awarded him life imprisonment. Bombay High Court Fines Woman Rs 25,000 for False Rape Complaint Against Her Boyfriend.

The conviction was challenged in the Bombay High Court. During the hearing, judges observed the girl's testimony about the identity of the accused was "inconsistent". She had identified him as her father’s friend, but also deposed that she had not seen him prior to the incident. The trial court had dismissed the argument that she could have been tutored by her mother to implicate the accused.

However, the Bombay High Court observed that the victim's evidence was recorded in 2019, and it is "improbable" her mother would have not met her all these years. The judges then considered forensic evidence. The forensic report had concluded that the DNA profile of semen on her frock and blood sample of the appellant was not from the same paternal progeny.

"We find it unsafe to convict the accused only on the basis of the testimony of the victim without there being further corroboration to her testimony showing the complicity of the accused," wrote Justice Karnik for the bench. "The evidence of the victim, the medical evidence firmly establishes the brutality of the assault, but the forensic reports do not support the case that the appellant is the perpetrator...It is therefore not possible to uphold the conviction," the bench concluded.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 16, 2020 11:29 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).