Based on DNA report, court acquits man accused of impregnating minor

The sessions court recently acquitted a Tilak Nagar resident of charges of sexually assaulting and impregnating a minor girl and later forcing her to abort the child after a DNA report established that the accused was not the biological father of the fetus that she had abandoned on the terrace of a building.

As per the prosecution case, a resident of the building had on June 4, 2020, gone to the terrace to check wiring for the Wi-Fi connection when they found a fetus lying there. The resident dialed the police control room, and the fetus was sent for post-mortem. The doctor said it was a male fetus of 20 weeks.

Three days later, on June 7, the RCF police registered an FIR under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

When the police traced the girl and enquired with her, she claimed that a 24-year-old driver had sexually assaulted her several times and impregnated her. She also said the accused threatened her that he would inform her parents of her relationship with other boys if she talked about this to anyone.

In her statement to the police, the girl further said when she missed her menstrual cycle and informed the accused about it, he gave her pills that could cause abortion. On June 4, she said she took the pills and went to the terrace. There she had a bleeding and then she realised that the baby she was carrying had fallen out. Scared, she came down to her flat and cleaned herself up, the statement added.

On June 8, the man was booked under sections of the POCSO Act and arrested.

In a recent hearing, the court said the DNA report proved that the accused was not the biological father of the fetus. It also said the police failed to produce evidence that the accused indeed forced the girl to abort the child and added that it found the victim’s statement inconsistent.