Mohali Court Acquits POCSO Accused Citing Inconsistencies and Lack of Corroboration

A special POCSO court in Mohali on November 21, 2025, acquitted a man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor girl, citing serious lapses in the prosecution’s evidence and multiple inconsistencies in the complainant’s version. Additional District and Sessions Judge Harpreet Kaur observed that the investigation failed to meet the rigorous evidentiary standards required in cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, leading to the accused walking free after more than two years in custody. The verdict highlighted the absence of corroborative material and contradictory statements that raised reasonable doubt about the allegations.

The case originated in 2023 when the minor, then aged around 15, was reported missing from near a gurdwara in Baltana, Zirakpur. According to the FIR registered at the Zirakpur police station, she was allegedly abducted and taken first to Delhi, where she claimed to have been confined for nearly a month, then shifted to Bihar before being recovered. A second alleged kidnapping was reported in September of the same year, after which she was traced to Ludhiana. Police arrested the accused, a resident of Bihar, and charged him under relevant sections of the POCSO Act, the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, and the Indian Penal Code (now Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) for kidnapping and sexual assault.

During the trial, significant discrepancies emerged in the prosecution’s narrative. The court noted inconsistencies in the victim’s statements regarding the number of accused persons, the exact sequence of events, and the circumstances of both recoveries. Crucial electronic evidence—such as the seizure of mobile phones and call-detail records that police claimed guided the second rescue—was never produced before the court. Defence counsel Siddhant Pandit and Amit Pawar successfully argued that the victim’s testimony lacked independent corroboration and contained material contradictions when compared with statements of family members and investigating officers, rendering the case unfit for conviction.

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The acquittal has renewed focus on the challenges of securing convictions in POCSO matters when investigations are marred by procedural gaps or when testimonies falter under cross-examination. While child rights advocates stress the need for sensitive and thorough probing to protect genuine victims, legal experts point out that courts cannot convict solely on the basis of an allegation when evidence falls short of the “beyond reasonable doubt” threshold. The state has the option to appeal the verdict before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The identity of the acquitted accused has been withheld in compliance with Supreme Court guidelines on reporting matters involving sexual offences against minors.

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