A man, accused of sodomising a 10-year-old boy, has been acquitted by a Delhi court after the child and his mother changed their statements.
Additional Sessions Judge Rajneesh Kumar Gupta absolved west Delhi resident Raju of the offences under section 377 (unnatural offences) of the IPC and under section 4 (sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The court noted that the child and his mother, who were material witnesses in the case, did not support the case of the prosecution and said, "As no incriminating evidence has come on record against the accused... He is acquitted of the charges."
According to prosecution, on April 2, the child had told the police that his neighbour Raju had been repeatedly sexually assaulting him for the past two years and threatened him not to disclose it to anyone.
He, however, resiled from his statement in that court saying that he knew Raju and he had not done anything wrong to him and that he had given the statement to the police at the instance of his aunt.
In her cross examination, the boy's mother, who had lodged the complaint with the police earlier, said she had falsely implicated him at the instance of her sister, whose daughter was allegedly being harassed by Raju.
During the trial, Raju had denied the allegations and claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case.
