The North Goa Special Fast-Track Court has acquitted a 19-year-old man of rape and criminal intimidation charges after the complainant refused to support the prosecution’s allegations during the trial. According to the prosecution, the case arose from an FIR registered at Ponda Police Station in July 2020. The prosecution alleged that, between October 31, 2019, and March 16, 2020, the accused forcibly took the complainant to a hotel room in Ponda and several isolated locations, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her without her consent. It was further alleged that the accused took nude photographs of the complainant, used them to compel her to meet him and threatened to kill her father. He was arrested on July 19, 2020, and released on bail in September 2020. Formal charges were framed in March 2021. During the trial, the prosecution examined seven witnesses, including doctors, panch witnesses and the investigating officer. However, a key turning point came when the complainant testified as a prosecution witness. She told the court that she did not wish to make any statement against the accused and that she had voluntarily filed an application for compounding the case without any coercion, force or undue influence. As she failed to support the prosecution’s case, her earlier statements were marked as contradictions. After assessing the evidence, the court acquitted the accused. It observed that, in sexual-assault proceedings, the complainant is the primary witness regarding the alleged non-consensual acts and that, in this case, she had expressly refused to support the allegations.