The North Goa Special POCSO Court has acquitted a Bardez resident of charges including rape, stalking, and criminal intimidation. In its judgment, the trial court held that the prosecution had failed to prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt and, accordingly, granted the accused the benefit of the doubt. The case originated from an FIR registered on September 3, 2020, by the Porvorim Police Station following a complaint lodged by the victim's father. The prosecution alleged that between August 20, 2020, and September 3, 2020, the accused had committed forceful sexual intercourse with the victim.
It was further alleged that after the victim attempted to end the relationship, Shaikh repeatedly contacted her family members and relatives, made threatening phone calls, and blackmailed her using alleged intimate photographs and videos in an attempt to force her to maintain contact. Shaikh was arrested on September 5, 2020, and was subsequently charged with rape, stalking, and criminal intimidation. He was granted bail on October 7, 2021. During the trial, the prosecution examined 12 witnesses, including the victim, her parents, relatives, medical experts, and the Investigating Officer. However, several inconsistencies and gaps in the evidence led the court to rule in favour of the accused. While the victim initially testified that the accused had blackmailed her using a video allegedly recorded while she was bathing, the court noted that no such video was ever recovered, seized, or produced as evidence.
Further, digital records and media recovered from the accused's mobile phone contained photographs and videos of both parties consensually engaging in intimate acts, with creation dates extending well beyond June 2020—the period during which the victim claimed to have ended the relationship. During cross-examination, the Investigating Officer also conceded that the relationship between the two appeared to have been consensual. During her deposition, the victim stated that she did not wish to pursue the matter or continue her testimony due to personal reasons. She further clarified that she was not acting under any pressure or coercion from the accused or his family.
Although the prosecution produced the accused's Call Detail Records, the investigating agency failed to correlate them with the phone numbers of the victim, her parents, or her relatives. Although witnesses testified that they had received calls from unknown numbers, the absence of any verification of the call records made it impossible to establish that Shaikh was the caller or to prove the charge of criminal intimidation. In light of the prosecution's failure to establish the accused's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the Special POCSO Court acquitted him of all charges.
