Bombay high court acquits father charged with raping minor daughter

A division bench of justices SS Shinde and AIS Cheema of the Bombay high court recently upheld the acquittal of a 38-yer-old man, Anwar Shami Sheikh, who had been charged with raping his 8-year-old daughter multiple times in 2012. The court which dismissed the government appeal against the lower court's acquittal order, observed that there was no perversity in the findings of the trial court.

Sheikh, arrested pending hearing of the appeal filed on July 7, 2014, will now be released.

Sheikh was staying with his wife and three children, including the victim, in their house in Sangamner taluka in Ahmednagar district. His wife had alleged that on February 14, 2012, she woke up hearing the victim shouting loudly, and saw Sheikh raping her. A quarrel ensued and Sheikh left the house. Two and-a-half months later, the complaint was registered.

The prosecution examined around nine witnesses including the complainant and the victim. They deposed that the accused had repeatedly raped the victim and also threatened her with dire consequences if she disclosed it. It was also disclosed that Sheikh would pay the victim Rs 10 after each time he raped the victim.

Sheikh, however, denied the charges and claimed his wife had falsely implicated him in the case as he had not paid her maintenance amount though she was staying with him.

The high court, which considering all the evidence, noted that as there was delay in filing the complaint, it disbelieved the versions of the complainant and the victim. It said: "Record shows that on an earlier occasion she had not only approached courts in a maintenance case, but also sought Sheikh's prosecution under section 498-A of IPC. Thus, in spite of knowing the system, she delayed filing a complaint in this case."

Further, there was no medical evidence of rape in the case, and hence the court agreed with the trial court and upheld Sheikh's acquittal.