Noida: A Special POCSO court has acquitted a man accused of raping a minor after the girl and her mother denied the allegations during the trial, telling the court that the case was filed after marriage negotiations between the two families fell through.The court also ordered the registration of a criminal miscellaneous case against the mother for allegedly filing a false complaint. Additional sessions judge Abhishek Pandey passed the order on Oct 14, directing the acquitted man to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 within a week, as required under law.The case dates back to September 2025, when the girl’s mother approached Ecotech 3 police station, alleging that the man had taken her minor daughter to an OYO hotel on Sept 10 and sexually assaulted her on the promise of marriage. Police registered a case under Section 64 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 4 of the POCSO Act, arrested the accused and conducted a medical examination of the girl. A chargesheet was subsequently filed, and the court framed charges against the man in November 2025. He denied the allegations and opted to face trial.The prosecution examined three witnesses, including the mother and the girl. However, both denied the allegations in court.The mother told the court that the two families had been discussing the girl’s marriage with the accused. While his father had initially agreed to the proposal, he later backed out following a misunderstanding, leading to an altercation between the families. She said she filed the police complaint after the dispute, denying that the accused had raped her daughter.The girl also denied being taken to a hotel or being sexually assaulted. Both were declared hostile by the prosecution after they refused to support its case.When confronted with her earlier statement recorded before a magistrate, the girl told the court that she had made it under pressure from a policewoman and in accordance with her parents’ wishes.The court also noted that the medical report did not support the allegation of aggravated penetrative sexual assault. It held that the prosecution had failed to establish the charges, particularly because its two key witnesses had not supported the allegations.The court said the available evidence did not allow it to conclude with certainty that the accused had committed the alleged offences on Sept 10, 2025, and acquitted him of all charges.
