Idukki (Kerala), Aug 16 A court has acquitted a 43-year-old man who was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting his minor daughter after he objected to her relationship with her boyfriend in Ayyappancoil here.
Special Court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act judge Bilkul G R acquitted Saji Kuttappan after finding him not guilty in the case.
Upputhara police registered a case in September 2024 after recording the statement of his daughter, who alleged that her father had sexually assaulted her from the age of 12.
Saji was arrested on September 17, 2024, and remained in jail for over 18 months before being granted bail.
During the trial, the court noted that it was an Anganwadi worker in Vagamon who passed information about the alleged sexual assault to Childline.
The Anganwadi worker told the court that her son, who was the complainant's boyfriend, was familiar with her through Instagram and had informed her about the incident.
When examined by the court, Saji denied the charges. He submitted that his daughter was using a phone excessively and showing laziness in her studies, following which he had advised her and warned her about such conduct.
He said he had questioned her on one occasion when her boyfriend came to their house and objected to their relationship.
On that occasion, though the complainant said she would not contact her boyfriend, on September 9, 2024, the accused again noticed that she had contacted him over the phone.
Saji claimed that his daughter and her boyfriend, with the help of his mother, had registered a false case against him in retaliation.
He submitted that even while he was in judicial custody, the boyfriend had visited the complainant's house during the night and had a relationship with her.
The incident was noticed by the accused's wife and son, who informed the police, following which a separate POCSO Act case was registered against the boyfriend.
The prosecution submitted that the manner in which the crime was registered and the improbability of obtaining medical records or scientific evidence should not stand in the way of the victim getting justice for the alleged sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father.
After examining the complainant's statement, the court noted that she had revealed the alleged sexual assault only to her boyfriend, despite having female friends at college and in the neighbourhood.
The court noted that the boyfriend had not told her that he intended to inform the police.
However, he told her that two counsellors would come to meet her.
"The said conduct of the boyfriend was severely assailed as an intentional act to implicate the accused in a serious criminal case only to avoid him from interfering in the unholy relationship between complainant and himself. Even though the complainant denied the suggestion, it has come out in evidence that the boyfriend had reached the house while the accused was in judicial custody," the court noted.
The court observed that while balancing a set of circumstances, the defence plea that there was an element of false implication and that the complainant and her boyfriend had a motive behind it could not be lightly brushed aside.
"Therefore, the testimony of complainant as given before court and referred cannot withstand the rule of appreciation of evidence to make it an evidence which is capable of being acted upon and therefore the statutory presumption under Section 29 of the POCSO Act seldom applies in support of the prosecution and consequently the prosecution is held to have miserably failed in proving the guilt of accused as alleged against him," the court noted.
The court found that the evidence led by the prosecution through the complainant could not prove the prime charge levelled against the accused.
A total of 16 witnesses were examined by the court, including three defence witnesses. 20 documents were also presented as evidence in the case. Although the complainant's boyfriend, mother, and brother were listed as prime witnesses, they were not examined by the prosecution during the trial.
However, they were examined as defence witnesses.
Advocate Joby George, who represented Saji, told PTI that the boyfriend was acquitted in a separate POCSO Act case registered for allegedly sexually assaulting the complainant, as she had testified in his favour.
The complainant, who is now a major, resides with her boyfriend, he said.
"Crucial evidence was the statement given by Saji's wife and son. Also, when we examined the boyfriend as a defence witness, several crucial pieces of evidence emerged," George said.
George said that even though grave allegations were raised against Saji, his wife and son stood by him.
"They were sure that he would never commit such a crime. Sadly, he had to be in jail for over one-and-a-half years as the complainant was his daughter and courts were apprehensive about influencing witnesses and tampering with evidence," George said.
