Mumbai: The principal of a suburban school,
accused of attempting to rape a class V student, was acquitted
by a local court here on Thursday due to lack of evidence.
Additional Sessions Judge C K Dhiren acquitted 49-year-
old Ravindra Nair, principal of Kartika high school in
suburban Kurla, observing that the prosecution has not been
able to prove its case.
According to the prosecution, on December 8 last year,
the victim had gone to the school's toilet when Nair allegedly
gagged her mouth and molested her inside the lavatory.
The girl, according to the prosecution, bit his right
hand and managed to escape. After she returned home, the girl
narrated the incident to her mother, who lodged a police
complaint the next day.
The prosecution examined seven witnesses to prove its
case.
Defence lawyer Anjali Patil argued that the school
management wanted to remove Nair from principal's chair and
therefore implicated him in this false case.
"The medical evidence against the accused was also
inconclusive. Apart from the evidence of the alleged victim
girl, there was no corroborative evidence," Patil argued.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, June 03, 2010, 20:57