A verdict of the special POCSO court of Shillong that acquitted a man accused of rape is likely to be challenged in the Meghalaya High Court as a relative of the victim child felt the acquittal did not hold water.
The challenge is being made under the eagle eye of the High Court Legal Services Committee which has appointed a legal aid counsel for the victim’s family under the legal aid system.
The judgement in this case, which began with an FIR in Pynursla in 2013, has many discrepancies which a relative of the child victim felt should be challenged.
One of the glaring issues pointed out was that the Special POCSO judge failed to take the statements of several witnesses, particularly those of the investigating police officials. It also took six long years to come out with the judgement within which time it did not think fit to remove the child victim from residing in the same house with the accused.
The relative had earlier this year written to the High Court Legal Services Committee for support to challenge the judgement in the High Court as the family could not manage the legal fees on their own.
The case has been discussed in many circles as it has exposed many instances of judicial oversight. (A detailed report was published in Highland Post dated 29 September 2020 under the caption ‘Despite POCSO Act child sexual abuse victim still have justice denied’)
In the case, a minor girl was brought to Ganesh Das Hospital here with stomach pains only to find out that she was pregnant. The doctor’s reported a medical legal case.
The biological father of the child had filed an FIR wherein he had stated that his two other daughters who lived with their mother and step father had told him that their sister had been raped by the step-father.
However, he later denied writing the FIR even though a copy was present among the documents of the police. All the witnesses turned hostile save for one.
The POCSO court accepted a letter in which the accused step-father declined to undergo a DNA test. Further, even after the FIR, the child victim was allowed to stay in the same house as the accused which is against the POCSO Act.
ALSO READ: https://highlandpost.com/despite-pocso-act-child-sexual-assault-victims-still-have-justice-denied/
