In a bizzare incident from Mumbai, a 60 year old man had to spend 5 years in jail on charges of repeatedly sexually assaulting his 17-year-old granddaughter over eight years and getting her pregnant only to find later that the DNA of the child didn’t match with his. A special POCSO court acquitted him as his  DNA did not match with that of the child she delivered. It also did not match with another man she had first named as accused. The judge said it is clear the girl has physical relations with some third person whom she wants to protect.

“Considering different names given… and her act of hiding the name of person who is having physical relations with her, oral evidence of victim girl does not appear trustworthy. Her evidence is also not supported by any other evidence,” special judge Kalpana K Patil said.

The judge said she had admitted that when she missed her menstrual cycle, she disclosed it to her friend and went to hospital with her friend’s mother. “Then question arises as to why victim has not disclosed the mis-deeds of accused to her friend or friend’s mother,” the judge said.

The judge also said that the girl had admitted that she used to leave home and stay out for a few days and the accused had also filed missing report in 2015. “Definitely, victim was out of control of the accused for some days. Her evidence is silent as to why during that period victim has not approached police against the alleged sexual harassment or burn injuries by the grand father,” the judge said.

The judgment said that the girl had stated that her grandfather used to inflict cigarette burns while she was asleep. She also admitted that whenever she was beaten by her grandparents, she used to shout loudly and neighbours used to come home to inquire. “Considering the ‘injury certificate, there are eight old burn scars… Considering the description of those scars, it is clear that they have definitely caused pain to the victim when she sustained burns. Then, question arises as to how she remained silent especially when she used to shout loudly after beating by her grandparents,” the judge said.

The judge said the behaviour appeared strange that she disclosed the fact of missing of menstrual cycle to her friend but remained silent about burns caused by her grandfather.

Furthermore, the DNA reports of the two accused – the boy whom she first named and her grandfather – were excluded from being the biological father of the child born to the victim. Hence, the court noted that the child was born through her relationship with a third person and not the accused.

The girl had told the court after death of her grand mother, she was cared for by the accused. She alleged that the accused used to burn her and repeatedly sexually assaulted her. The girl said she had not disclosed it to anybody. Later, when the doctor said she is pregnant, due to fear she did not disclose it to her grandfather. She said initially she told cops names of two others boys due to fear of her grand father.

“Hence, it is clear that the victim has physical relations with some third person whom she wants to protect. Considering her act of hiding the name of a person who is having physical relations with her, the oral evidence of the girl does not appear trustworthy,” the court observed on Monday while acquitting the grandfather.