New Delhi: Five men, who were facing trial for allegedly molesting several women at a marriage function in 2011, have been acquitted by a Delhi court which held that the statements of prosecution witnesses were contradictory.
Metropolitan Magistrate Shivani Chauhan acquitted Jamia Nagar residents Nehmat, Noor, Alam, Naushad and Ahmad of the offences of voluntarily causing hurt (section 323), outraging the modesty of a woman (section 354) and using gestures to insult a woman (section 509) under the IPC.
"The deposition of witnesses is full of contradictions. The witnesses have contradicted each other repeatedly, thus, their veracity is punctured and cannot be relied upon to establish culpability upon the accused persons," the MM said, while adding that the allegations against the five men could not be proved by the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt.
According to the police, a woman filed a complaint that during the wedding ceremony of her son on November 28, 2011, Nehmat came to the venue and started clicking pictures of the women guests, including the complainant, without their permission.
When he was asked to leave, he began passing lewd comments and also called his four accomplices to the venue, it said.
They all misbehaved with the women at the wedding and also vandalised the venue and beat up relatives of the complainant. The woman somehow informed the police and the five men were arrested, the prosecution said.
While acquitting the five men, the court said it could not be proved that they were clicking photographs of the women.
It also noted that the complainant and another victim`s statements regarding the time of the incident and the presence of the men were contradictory as both had given different details.
The court also pointed out that it was a large gathering at the wedding function yet not a single public witness was been examined.
The five men had claimed that they were falsely implicated in the case.
