Powai ‘rape’: Prosecution ignored key witnesses, failed to prove girl was a minor

The case involving the alleged rape of a girl in Powai will go down as yet another instance of the accused being acquitted because the prosecution failed to produce adequate evidence.

The case involving the alleged rape of a girl in Powai will go down as yet another instance of the accused being acquitted because the prosecution failed to produce adequate evidence.

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The case came to light when the girl became pregnant and delivered a premature baby in October 2010. The three accused—Mohanchand Shyam, Chandrakant Gupta, and Santabai Gaikwad, a relative of the girl who allegedly forced her into prostitution, were acquitted by the sessions court on February 27 after the prosecution failed to establish the case against them. Arun Borude, a senior police officer, was also named as an accused, but he allegedly committed suicide on the day the police filed a charge sheet.

The 45-page judgment states that the prosecution failed to establish beyond reasonable doubt that Gaikwad had induced the girl to go to Shyam and Gupta, and that they had raped her.

The prosecution had presented two contradictory documents as the girl's proof of age and the court eventually considered the medical reports that stated that the victim was not a minor.

The DNA of the girl's child did match that of Shyam. But the court held that though Shyam may be the biological father of the child, there wasn't enough proof that Gaikwad took the girl to Shyam.