The North Goa Special POCSO Court, granting the benefit of doubt, has acquitted an 18-year-old youth charged for sexually assaulting a minor girl, after the minor girl retracted her initial allegations and testified that she had eloped voluntarily. The case stems from an FIR registered at the Ponda Police Station in November 2025, initiated after the father of a 16-year-old girl reported her missing.
According to the prosecution, the accused allegedly kidnapped the minor from her lawful guardianship on November 4, 2025, and took her to Karnataka, where he was accused of committing penetrative sexual assault. Following an investigation led by the Ponda police with assistance from Karnataka police authorities, the minor was brought back to Goa, and the accused was apprehended in Koppal district, Karnataka. Charges were subsequently framed in the case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the POCSO Act for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor girl under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the POCSO Act for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor girl. During the court proceedings, the prosecution examined four witnesses, including the victim and her father.
While the victim initially gave a statement alleging sexual assault, her testimony during cross-examination took a complete turn. Under cross-examination, the victim admitted that she was in love with the accused and had voluntarily asked him to take her away so they could marry. She stated under oath that the accused "did not even touch her" and that no forcible sexual intercourse had taken place. When asked to explain the contradiction in her previous statements made to the police and the Magistrate, the victim clarified that she had made false claims in the hope that her family would agree to their marriage. She noted that she later realized her parents would not consent to the union due to caste differences.
In the ruling, the court observed that the primary witness—the victim herself—did not support the prosecution's allegations of kidnapping or sexual assault. Furthermore, testimony from the victim's father failed to yield any adverse evidence against the accused. The court concluded that the circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution was insufficient to sustain a conviction. All points of determination were decided in the negative, leading to the full acquittal of the accused.
