Army court-martial exonerates soldier facing charges of outraging modesty of his officer's daughter
Aug 01, 2024
New Delhi [India], August 1 : An Indian Army court martial has found a jawan not guilty of allegations of outraging the modesty of the daughter of an officer with whom he was attached as a 'Sahayak' for a long time.
The case started in August 2019 when the officer's daughter levelled the allegations against the soldier and the court martial announced its findings on July 11.
The accused soldier is from the Corps of Signals and was attached to the officer, who was staying in a civil area in Delhi.
"The Court finds that the accused signalman is not guilty of the charge," the court said.
The presiding officer of the case is a colonel-rank officer and the verdict pronounced by him is subject to confirmation by the senior Army authorities.
The Army Court, giving reasons for the decision, said that after carefully considering and examining the evidence presented before it by the prosecution as well as by the defence, it thinks that the prosecution has not been able to prove the charge against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.
In this case, the woman had officially levelled the allegations against the soldier three months after the alleged incident took place, as she wanted to focus on her studies for entrance exams.
The counsel for the soldier, Advocate Anand Kumar, said that this case got stretched throughout due to administrative issues but finally justice from the military court was delivered.
"The verdict only reposes faith in the justice delivery system of the Indian Army and further that equality before the law has been further established," he said.