A man accused of kidnapping and sexually harassing a minor girl has been acquitted by a Delhi court after the girl admitted that she was in love with him and had filed a false case under pressure from her parents.
Additional sessions judge Pawan Kumar Jain absolved north Delhi resident Ravinder of the charges of kidnapping (section 363), abducting woman to compel for marriage (section 366) and wrongful confinement (section 368) under the IPC and sexual harassment under section 12 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The court said that after the girl's cross-examination, it became clear that she went with Ravinder on her own as she was in love with him and he had not threatened her.
"She had made false allegation against him under pressure from her parents... Thus, I hereby, acquit the accused of all the charges," the judge said.
According to the prosecution, the girl's mother lodged a complaint that her daughter was not there when she reached home on the evening of March 17 last year.
When the girl returned the next day, her mother took her to the police station and lodged a complaint against Ravinder, for allegedly kidnapping and sexually harassing her daughter, it said.
The girl told the police that Ravinder was stalking her for the past few months and forcing her to marry him.
When she was going home on the fateful evening, he blocked her way and forcibly took her to his house at knife-point and sexually harassed her, the prosecution said.
However, during cross examination, she changed her stand saying that she was in love with Ravinder and had made false allegations against him under pressure from her parents.
The court noted that there was no incriminating evidence against Ravinder and acquitted him of all the charges to which he had pleaded innocence.
