Court martial finds jawan not guilty of molesting Lt Colonel’s daughter, cites delay in complaint

The jawan who was tried on the charge of having outraged the modesty of the girl was posted with 4 Corps Signal Regiment and was attached to 1 Air Formation Signal Regiment in New Delhi, informed the accused’s counsel, Anand Kumar.

Giving its reasons for finding the jawan not guilty, the military court said that after having carefully considered and examined the evidence led before it by the prosecution as well as by the defence, it is of the opinion that the prosecution has not been able to prove the charge against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

It had been alleged that the accused jawan, at Delhi Cantonment, on May 15, 2019, used criminal force on the Lt Colonel’s daughter intending thereby to outrage her modesty.

The court found that there is a considerable delay in disclosing of the alleged incident of use of criminal force by the accused with the intent to outrage her modesty. It was disclosed for the first time only on August 20, 2019, at police station, Sector 9, Dwarka, New Delhi, and the subsequent complaint lodged on August 21, 2019, has not been satisfactorily explained and justified, the court said.

The court said that the woman in her evidence has stated that — when the incident had happened at that point of time and throughout that day she was not able to tell her mother anything about the incident as she was ashamed about the incident and was not sure as to how her mother would react to it. Also, her engineering entrance exams were happening, and she thought that if she tells about this incident, what will happen to her future, as restrictions might be put on her and she might not be able to go to college.

The prosecutrix also explained the delay saying that when she told her mother that the jawan may have “made a video in their bathroom”, her mother retorted by saying that he has a daughter himself and why would he do so. She further told the girl that she watches too much TV these days and that is why she is getting these thoughts.

Since the reaction was not what she had expected and her fear that her mother trusts the jawan more than her came true and so, she was never able to gather courage to tell her mother about the incident of May 15, 2019, the complainant had clarified.

She further added that during the period from May 2019 to August 2019, her entrance examination for various engineering colleges was going on. So she was trying to forget the incident and whenever, the accused used to be at home during this period, she made sure that she always remained in her room and latched it from inside.

“The version of the prosecutrix does not inspire confidence in justifying the delay in lodging of the complaint on August 21, 2019. The reason which has been given by the prosecutrix for not having disclosed about the incident to her mother, at that point of time, as she was ashamed about the incident and was not sure as to how her mother would react to it, what will happen to her future as restrictions might be put on her and she might not be able to go to college, does not inspire confidence as from what has come in evidence the prosecutrix belongs to an educated urban family and is an avid vlogger on YouTube having her own YouTube channel, indicating that she is smart, confident, extrovert, outgoing and has been given freedom to express herself.

“Moreover, considering the fact that the parents of the prosecutrix have been supporting her and fighting the instant case since the day she disclosed the incident on August 20, 2019, at the police station, it is hard to believe that if she had disclosed about the alleged incident of molestation to her mother earlier, then her mother would put restrictions on her and she might not be able to go to college,” the court said.

The court found that there is not only a delay in disclosing of the entire incident but also there are contradictions and improvements in narration of the events by the prosecutrix which have also come on record.