Ghaziabad court acquits brothers accused of raping, impregnating minor sister

The case came to light in May 2024 when the girl complained of abdominal pain and was admitted to a hospital in Sahibabad. Doctors found that she was 22 weeks pregnant.

A special Pocso court on August 19 acquitted two brothers of charges of raping and impregnating their 13-year-old sister after the survivor and her parents turned hostile witnesses and refused to identify them during the trial.

The court order makes no reference to whether the girl’s pregnancy was continued or terminated. (Representational image)

The case came to light in May 2024 when the girl, then 13, complained of abdominal pain and was admitted to a hospital in Sahibabad. Doctors found that she was 22 weeks pregnant. Upon being questioned, the girl initially told her mother that her two brothers had been assaulting her since she was 11.

On May 17, 2024, the girl’s mother lodged an FIR at Tila Morh police station under Section 376(3) of the IPC (rape of a girl under 16 years) and relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act against the two brothers, then aged 24 and 21.

However, during trial proceedings, the survivor and her parents did not support the prosecution’s version.

The mother told the court that her daughter had only said “two men” used to rape her in the absence of her parents, and she did not know their names. She alleged that the police asked her to sign a blank paper and later named her sons without her knowledge.

During the trial, the prosecution told the court that DNA samples of the girl and the two accused, examined at the Ghaziabad forensic science laboratory, did not match. The court order makes no reference to whether the girl’s pregnancy was continued or terminated.

The girl, in her deposition, confirmed she was taken to hospital after complaining of pain and was found to be pregnant. She told the court that two boys used to come to the house in her parents’ absence and rape her but insisted her brothers were not involved. She accused the police of coercing her into naming her brothers, alleging officers recorded a video and pressured her to repeat the statement before a magistrate.

With all three key witnesses, the girl and her parents, “turning hostile”, the court ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove charges beyond reasonable doubt.

“The prosecution has not been able to prove charges against the two accused beyond a reasonable doubt. The two accused, facing charges under IPC section 376(3) and sections of the Pocso Act, are acquitted. The accused are in jail, and a release order should be sent to the jail authorities for their immediate release if not charged under any other case,” special judge Neeraj Gautam (Pocso Act) said in his order.

Confirming the acquittal, special public prosecutor Utkarsh Vats said, “The three key witnesses did not support the prosecution case during the trial. All three refused to identify the two accused persons in the court. As a result, the court acquitted the brother duo of charges for rape and also under the Pocso Act.”