The court of judge Digamber Yashwant Gaud, District Judge 4 and Additional Sessions Judge, on Monday exonerated Mohiniraj Suresh Gawande in the 2020 Mangi-Tungi sexual harassment and atrocity case registered by Jaikheda police. The court cleared Gawande of all the charges levelled against him.
After hearing both the prosecution and the defence and examining five witnesses, judge Gaud pronounced the order under Section 235 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The prosecution after recording the statement of the witnesses, examined the accused under Section 313 CrPC. The accused pleaded not guilty, had denied all the charges on him and chose to undergo trial.
Follow @CourtWalaLaw Court Kacheri Wala on Twitter for regular updates
In 2020, the Jaikheda police had registered a case against Gawande under Sections 354 A, 354 D of the Indian Penal Code and as the victim belongs to a scheduled community Sections 3(1)(W)(i)(ii) and 3(1)(R)(S) of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 2015 were also slapped on him.
The court said the prosecution failed to prove that on 16 January 2020 at 2pm, the accused had molested the victim near Tungadi river in Mangi-Tungi. It also failed to prove that the accused tried to come close to the victim against her wishes and that he had outraged the modesty of the victim in a public place despite knowing that she belongs to scheduled caste or scheduled tribe community.
