Ghaziabad court acquits two in stalking case, orders perjury action against complainant

During the trial, four prosecution witnesses were examined, including the girl, her mother, and two police officers. The defence presented no witnesses

A Ghaziabad court on July 29 acquitted two men accused of stalking a 13-year-old girl in 2019 and directed police to register a case under Section 344 of the CrPC against the complainant—the girl’s mother—for allegedly filing a false FIR and giving misleading testimony in court.

The FIR was registered against the two named suspects based on input from a police informer, following which both were taken into custody. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The accused had been booked under IPC sections 354(d)(1)(i) (stalking), 504 (intentional insult), and 507 (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication), along with provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. The FIR was lodged at Kavi Nagar police station on March 25, 2019. The chargesheet was filed on August 5, 2019.

Special judge (Pocso) Lal Babu Yadav, while acquitting the two men, stated in his order that the complainant “lodged an FIR on the basis of wrong facts... and deliberately gave false evidence in the court. So, a case under section 344 of the CrPC be registered against the complainant, and thereafter notice be issued.”

During the trial, four prosecution witnesses were examined, including the girl, her mother, and two police officers. The defence presented no witnesses. Sub-inspector Ajay Verma told the court that the FIR was registered against the two named suspects based on input from a police informer, following which both were taken into custody.

In court, the girl’s mother said she had filed the complaint based on information provided by others and that the two accused were not involved. “I wrote in my complaint whatever people at the spot told me. The two accused present in the court were not involved in the incident,” she testified. She was declared a hostile witness.

The girl testified that she had been stalked but said, “The two accused present in the court were not those two,” and could not identify who had hurled abuses. She too was declared hostile.

Special public prosecutor (Pocso) Satish Sharma said he would respond to the judgement but did not take HT’s calls later.