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Sexual harassment accused let off: British diplomat didn’t support prosecution version
On Wednesday, a Chandigarh court had acquitted Vishwas Kumar of Nayagaon, Mohali, who was arrested two days after the sexual harassment incident on October 6, 2021
The acquittal of a Nayagaon resident, who was accused of sexually harassing a British diplomat in 2021, came after she failed to identify him.
On Wednesday, a local court had acquitted Vishwas Kumar of Nayagaon, Mohali, who was arrested two days after the sexual harassment incident on October 6, 2021.
The British diplomat was one of the 10 prosecution witnesses who were called upon to establish Kumar’s guilt. But she was declared hostile by the prosecution after she denied having had a good look at the accused at the time of the incident and identifying him after his arrest.
In court, she stated that the motorcyclist had fled from the spot, so she was not able to see his face. She also said she was not sure about the identity of the accused who was present in court.
She had never told the police that she had visited the crossing road of Sectors 9 and 10, where the incident had taken place, she stated during her cross examination.
The diplomat also denied the suggestion that she had seen any motorcycle or a boy or that she had shouted and identified him to be the same boy who had committed the incident as alleged by the prosecution. The suggestion that the police investigation was carried out in her presence was also denied.
The court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Aman Inder Singh observed that she was the most material and star witness of the present case, but she had failed to support the prosecution’s case.
It further observed that it was a cardinal principle of criminal jurisprudence that prosecution had to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt by leading reliable, cogent and convincing evidence.
“This court is of the considered view that when the material witness of the prosecution has not supported the case of prosecution, this court is left with no option but to arrive on the conclusion that benefit of doubt has to be given to the accused,” the court observed, while acquitting the accused.
The diplomat had complained that she was on a morning walk near Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA) in Sector 10 on October 6, 2021, when a youth riding a motorcycle had sexually harassed her. Kumar, who was 21 years old at the time of the incident, was arrested by the police near the Housing Board light point and police had also recovered the motorcycle which they claimed was used at the time of the incident.
They had alleged that Kumar, who worked as a cook for a restaurant in Manimajra, was a habitual offender and involved in a similar incident from June 2021.
