Lucknow: A Special Pocso court in Bahraich has acquitted a man in a nine-year-old case of kidnapping and gangrape of a minor girl by granting him the benefit of doubt after finding inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case and inconclusive linkage through forensic evidence.Additional sessions judge Arvind Kumar Gautam held that the statements of the survivor and her mother had contradictions on the identity and role of the accused Waliuddin. The court also relied on DNA analysis which did not establish Waliuddin, 35, as the biological father of the child born to the survivor.The court noted that Waliuddin was not named in the original FIR. During investigation, the name of Kaleemuddin was allegedly altered to Waliuddin, and the court found that the prosecution did not satisfactorily clarify how or why the change occurred. Witness Aziz Ahmed, cited by the prosecution, also did not support the claim that he had seen the survivor leaving with any accused.The judgment further pointed to inconsistencies in the accounts given by the survivor, her mother and the investigating officer regarding the circumstances of the girl’s recovery. The court observed that the survivor’s statement before a magistrate was recorded around 18 days after her recovery, and the prosecution failed to provide a convincing explanation for the delay.On court directions, DNA samples of Waliuddin, the survivor and the child were tested. Forensic Science Laboratory in Gorakhpur confirmed biological maternity between the survivor and the child but ruled out Waliuddin as the biological father.The court also ordered that a copy of the judgment be sent to the superintendent of police for departmental action against then investigating officer sub-inspector Dayanand Yadav, citing investigative lapses. It noted that FIR-named accused Atiq was dropped based on alleged foreign travel tickets without independent verification.
