THANE: An Additional Sessions Court in Thane has convicted a 57-year-old taxi driver for procuring a minor girl but acquitted him of rape and aggravated sexual assault charges, bringing to a close a case that kept him in custody for nearly four years.
The court sentenced the accused to the period already undergone in jail and imposed a fine of ₹5,000. While holding that he had lured and taken away an 11-year-old child with wrongful intent, the court ruled that the prosecution failed to establish the more serious allegations of penetrative sexual assault.
According to public prosecutor Rekha Hiwrale, the incident occurred on January 3, 2022, when the child was playing outside her residential building in Mumbra. The prosecution said the accused enticed several children with chocolates and ice cream, took them for a ride in his taxi, dropped the others near a mosque, and then drove the girl to an isolated area in Khardi village.
Additional Sessions Judge D. S. Deshmukh held that the charge under Section 366-A of the Indian Penal Code—procuring a minor—was proved beyond reasonable doubt. The court found that the accused deliberately separated the child from her friends and took her to a remote location with the intent of seducing her for illicit purposes.
However, the court acquitted him of rape and aggravated sexual assault charges, citing serious gaps in evidence. The medical examination conducted a day after the alleged incident revealed no fresh injuries; doctors found only old, healed hymenal tears sustained more than 48 hours earlier, which did not align with the prosecution’s timeline.
The judge also noted that the child did not immediately report any assault to her mother at the police station or to her grandmother later that evening, and that the disclosure was made only the next day to a family friend. During cross-examination, the child admitted that her court testimony was based on what her mother and advocate had told her, raising concerns of possible coaching.
Forensic tests on seized clothes, nail clippings, and swabs did not yield any semen or biological evidence linking the accused to penetrative assault. While the prosecution cited Supreme Court rulings on the credibility of child witnesses, the defence pointed to contradictions and the absence of corroborative evidence, which ultimately weighed with the court.
