A special court in Maharashtra's Thane district has acquitted a 27-year-old man who was arrested for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl, saying the two are now married and that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges.

The order by Special (POCSO) Judge VV Virkar was passed on March 6 and a copy was made available on Tuesday.As per the prosecution, the man from Nanded often visited his relative's home in Thane where the girl, then a Class XI student, lived and the two became friends. In December 2017, they eloped to Nanded where the man raped her twice, claimed the prosecution.