NAGPUR: Bombay HC’s Nagpur bench recently overturned an Amravati
Pocso court
order convicting a 43-year-old man of sexually assaulting his daughter for seven years until she turned 14.
Justice Govinda Sanap
suggested a possible motive behind the allegations, saying the father opposed his daughter’s marriage to a youth of her choice, who she married shortly after the rape case was filed by her grandmother in Jan 2019.
“It’s true that in ordinary circumstances, a daughter would not level such an allegation against her father. Similarly, a father would also not sexually assault his daughter. However, considering human psychology and tendency, mistakes can occur, even in the case of the father, who is ordinarily considered as protector of the children,” Justice Sanap said.
While quashing the Pocso court’s Feb 2021 judgment that sentenced the father to 10 years in prison and a fine of Rs 5,000, HC said the girl “and her boyfriend were in an intimate relationship”, but her father deemed him an unsuitable match. This disagreement fuelled her distress, possibly prompting her to “lodge a false report” against the father, the judge said.
“Except her words, there is no other evidence. Even if it is presumed the man was addicted to liquor as per the daughter’s allegation, it would not weigh in favour of the prosecution. She has nowhere stated that her father did not look after their well-being,” HC said.
“The father who looked after the survivor in the absence of her mother would not perpetrate such an act with his daughter. He was the family’s lone earning member and must have toiled hard to sustain the family. This is another vital circumstance,” the judge said.
