BHOPAL: A special court in Gwalior has acquitted a 22-year-old man of rape, aggravated sexual assault and other charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, holding that the prosecution failed to prove the complainant was below 18 at the time of the alleged offence.The court also noted that DNA analysis found no male DNA profile in the samples collected from her.In the judgment delivered on October 28, special judge Vandana Raj Pandey acquitted Vivek Bhadoria of offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Sections 5(L) and 6 of the POCSO Act, giving him the benefit of doubt.The case was registered at Maharajpura police station in December 2025. The complainant alleged that Bhadoria, whose family owned the house her family rented in 2024, sexually assaulted her on November 17, 2024, and on later occasions after promising to marry her.She said that when he refused to marry her in December 2025, he abused and slapped her and took her mobile phone. Police arrested him in January 2026.Bhadoria denied the charges, claiming she was friendly with several men and that he refused to marry her for that reason. Defence lawyer Awadhesh Singh Bhadoria said evidence related to mobile phone chats and forensic examinations was also presented in court.He said a dispute over marriage arose after chats with other men were found on her phone, following which the complaint was filed.
Age not proved
The complainant told the court she was born on December 16, 2005, making her 18 when the alleged offences began. Her mother also testified that she was born in 2005.The prosecution’s birth certificate, however, recorded the date of birth as December 16, 2007. Under cross-examination, the mother acknowledged that the certificate, prepared in 2021, showed her daughter’s age as two years less than her actual age.The court held that the prosecution had failed to prove she was below 18, which was essential to the POCSO case. This also made the statutory presumptions under Sections 29 and 30 of the Act inapplicable.
Complainant and mother turn hostile
In court, the complainant acknowledged that the two had been in a relationship and that a dispute arose after he refused to marry her.She denied several allegations in her original complaint, including repeated forced sexual relations, assault and abusive behaviour.She said some details in her earlier statement were recorded at the police’s direction, and that she and Bhadoria had later reached a compromise outside court.Her mother also did not support key parts of the prosecution’s case. The prosecution treated both as hostile.
DNA report
The forensic laboratory found no male DNA profile in the complainant’s clothing and biological samples, and the court said this did not corroborate the allegation of rape.It did not treat the result as the sole basis for acquittal, assessing it alongside the testimony and the age dispute. Bhadoria’s bail bonds were ordered to be discharged, subject to statutory requirements.
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