Two acquitted of kidnap, rape charges

The sessions court on Thursday acquitted two people charged with kidnapping and raping a minor girl, after the girl testified that she had married one of the accused and left her father’s house willingly.

Forensic test on the girl showed that she was more than 18 years old.

Tasneema Bano was sent to a Dongri child shelter home on October 31 last year after her father Naseem Ahmed filed a case of kidnapping and rape against Sajjad Ansari (35) and his brother Ansar.

Ahmed said she had gone missing from their Kurla house on October 1. On October 2 he had received a call from accused Sajjad Ansari (35) that Bano was with him at Silvassa. When Ahmed went to Silvassa, the girl refused to go with him.

Meanwhile, on October 12, Bano married Sajjad’s brother Ansar in Uttar Pradesh.

The police arrested Sajjad on October 24. However, Bano wrote a letter to the Kurla police saying that she had married Ansar willingly and Sajjad was innocent. The police arrested Ansar on October 31.

The defence argued that if Bano had testified that she had left her home and married Ansar willingly, a case of kidnapping and rape can’t be made out.

Accepting the defence’s arguments, the court acquitted the two.