19 April,2026 06:31 PM IST | Thane | mid-day online correspondent
Representational Image
A special POCSO court in Thane acquitted a man accused of raping and impregnating his minor stepsister after the victim turned hostile and a DNA test established he was not the father of the child she delivered later, reported PTI.
Special Judge Ruby U Malvankar acquitted the man, who was 20 at the time of the alleged incident, of Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act charges related to aggravated rape, causing hurt by means of poison, or any stupefying, intoxicating, or unwholesome drug/substance with the intent to commit offence, among others, reported PTI.
As per the prosecution, the man gave his then 14-year-old stepsister a spiked soft drink and committed sexual assault in December 2023, leading to her getting pregnant and delivering a child in September 2024, reported PTI.
During the trial, the victim denied that the accused had administered any intoxicating substance or committed sexual assault, adding that she implicated him "out of fear."
Concluding the prosecution had failed to prove the victim was a "child" as per the legal definition (due to conflicting age reports) or that the accused committed the crime, the court, in its order of April 17, ordered his immediate acquittal, reported PTI.
In another case, a court in Maharashtra's Thane district sentenced to imprisonment for life a 42-year-old man accused of stabbing his neighbour to death over a dispute in 2016, while acquitting his parents, citing a lack of evidence to establish their role in the crime, reported PTI.
Additional sessions judge D S Deshmukh on Friday found Mohammed Asgar alias Samar Dilshad Husen Sayyed guilty of the charges under section 302 (murder) and 504 (intentional insult) of the Indian Penal Code, reported PTI.
The court sentenced him to imprisonment for life and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000.
It acquitted Asgar's father, Dilshad Husen Shahanshah Sayyed, and mother, Efsari Dilshad Husen Sayyed, reported PTI.
Additional public prosecutor V G Kadu stated that on the incident in the Kausa area of Mumbra on May 21, 2016, when the victim, Ahmad Raja Shaikh, confronted Asgar for allegedly harassing and "peeping" into his house to look at his sister, reported PTI.
A scuffle ensued, and the accused rushed into his house to retrieve a knife and stabbed Ahmad multiple times in front of several witnesses. The victim succumbed to his injuries three days later at Sion Hospital.
Judge Deshmukh noted that prosecution witnesses had made "improvements" in their statements by saying that the accused's parents caught hold of the victim's hands and allowed their son to commit murder, reported PTI.
This created doubt about their involvement in the murder, he held, while acquitting the parents.
(With inputs from PTI)
