BHOPAL: Three accused in a gang rape case involving a minor were acquitted by the Pocso court in Gwalior on Tuesday after the rape survivor failed to identify herself in a video, purportedly of the alleged crime. The court then said it found no merit in the allegations levelled against the accused youth, all aged 18.
The video, purportedly of the alleged rape, was played during the court proceedings, but the survivor denied being the person seen being assaulted in it.
According to the survivor’s initial statement, mentioned in the FIR, she had befriended one of the accused on social media. On June 1, he invited her to the Hanuman Mandir in Gwalior’s Kampu. Upon arrival, she found him in the company of two friends. She claimed the three then took her for a drive in a car.
The survivor alleged that the youth she had befriended said he loved her and subsequently raped her while his friends were present. She claimed that he also recorded the act on his phone. When she protested, he threatened to make the video public.
A case of gang rape was registered at Gwalior’s Mohana police station on July 18 and the three accused were arrested on July 20. While the first youth was accused of rape, the other two were accused of abetting the crime.
However, during the trial, the survivor’s testimony was found to be inconsistent with her initial statement. Her denial of being the person in the video weakened the prosecution’s case.
The advocate representing the accused pleaded that two of them had already spent 90 days in prison, while the third had been in jail for 96 days. The three were subsequently acquitted.
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