A Thane district special POCSO court has acquitted a civic official in a sexual harassment case involving a woman and her minor daughter after both complainants turned hostile, failing to support their allegations during the trial.
Special Judge D S Deshmukh, in his ruling dated April 16 and made available on Friday, stated that the prosecution witnesses did not substantiate the case against Kantilal Kisan Bangar, a 51-year-old sanitary inspector with the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation.
The case, filed in 2022, involved accusations that Bangar made inappropriate sexual advances towards a female sweeper and her teenage daughter, allegedly under the pretext of offering the woman’s husband a job.
Despite the serious nature of the charges, which led to Bangar being booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Indian Penal Code, the court found the evidence insufficient for conviction. During the trial, the complainant and her daughter both retracted their initial statements and testified that the accused had not committed any wrongdoing towards them.
