Man in Mumbai acquitted in case of molesting cousin

A Malvani-based man, who was on trial for molesting his 14-year-old cousin, has been acquitted on Thursday. The teenager and her mother had both turned hostile during the trial, leading to his acquittal.

The case was registered in 2016 upon the complaint of the teenager’s mother. In her complaint, she said that she had returned from Mumbai Central around noon on December 14, when she did not find her daughter at home.

On enquiring, her son told her that she had gone to the neighbour’s house. The teenager later came home crying and disclosed to her mother that the accused sexually assaulted her, the prosecution claimed.

As per the prosecution, the accused had also assaulted the teenager around four months before the incident came to light.

During the trial, the survivor and her mother turned hostile and said no such incident took place.

The teenager said in her testimony that she and her mother had gone to the police station after they had a dispute over water with the family of the accused.

The accused had, in his defence, claimed that he is the cousin of the girl.

The defence counsel told the court that the accused had admonished the girl for loitering outside the house late at night and asked her to go home. When she did not obey him, he slapped her and asked her to go home again, his advocate said.