A special Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court in Puri has acquitted a young man accused of raping a minor girl on the pretext of marriage after the prosecution failed to prove charges against him.

Defence counsel Debadutta Kanungo told The Telegraph: “The trial went on for around eight years. A conviction cannot be held upon a disputed and unreliable foundational fact alleged by a Pocso case victim. The court allowed
the complainant to appeal against the order within the stipulated period.”

While setting free the accused, 28, who is currently undergoing teacher’s training, additional sessions judge Ramanath Panda said: “I am of the considered opinion that the evidence adduced by the prosecution is not sufficient to bring the accused within the fold of the charges levelled against him.”

The Astaranga police in Puri district had arrested the accused on October 6, 2016, on an FIR lodged by the victim, then 16, stating that the former intercepted her on a motorcycle when she was on her way to college in the morning hours. He then forced her to ride a pillion on the motorcycle and took her to a secluded place.

“She also alleged the accused manhandled her and told her that he would not keep any further relationship with her though he had been maintaining forcible sexual relation with her for the past year,” the accused stated in the FIR.