Date:20/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/20/stories/2008032054020400.htm

New Delhi

Man acquitted in criminal assault case

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: A court here has acquitted a man who was charged with criminally assaulting a mentally retarded minor girl at Kotwali in North Delhi in 2006.

Additional Sessions Judge R. K. Gupta let off accused Asmat Ali, a resident of Chandni Chowk, saying the prosecution had not been able to establish his crime. The prosecution had failed to produce main witness Raja Chaturvedi before the court and there was nothing on record to prove that Ali was involved in the incident, the court said.

According to the prosecution, Ali had allegedly criminally assaulted the 16-year-old girl around midnight on October 21, 2006. Chaturvedi, who was a friend of Ali, had lodged the complaint in this regard with Kotwali police station.