IAF personnel acquitted in POCSO case after minor says ‘assault’ was in a dream

A special court here has acquitted Indian Air Force personnel accused of molesting his minor sister-in-law after the complainant revealed that the alleged incident was only a dream and her raising an alarm was a misunderstanding, officials said.

The case was registered at the Naubasta Police Station on August 3, 2019, based on a complaint by a 15-year-old girl who alleged that her brother-in-law, Anurag Shukla, had molested her earlier that year while she was asleep.

According to the FIR, the alleged incident took place on the night of March 8, 2019, when the girl was staying at her sister-in-law’s house in Khadepur under Naubasta police station limits.

During the trial, however, the girl told the court that she had been on antibiotics and was in a semi-conscious state that night and had “felt in a dream” that Shukla had grabbed and molested her, following which she woke up frightened and raised an alarm, defence counsel Karim Ahmad Siddiqui told PTI on Tuesday. Her father, Vijay Tiwari, and elder sister, Shivani Tiwari, who is married to Shukla, also told the court that the complaint had been filed under a misunderstanding.

Shukla had married Shivani Tiwari on February 10, 2019. At the time of the alleged incident, he was living in Khadepur and has since shifted to Bithoor.

Speaking to PTI, Shukla said he was arrested on September 29, 2019, and spent 19 days in jail before being granted bail on October 17 that year. A chargesheet was subsequently filed, and the special court framed charges in November 2019 under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, including molestation and sexual assault of a minor. During the trial, the complainant retracted her earlier allegations.

Taking note of her testimony and statements of family members acknowledging the misunderstanding, the special court presided over by Judge Rashmi Singh acquitted Shukla of all charges on March 7, holding that the prosecution had failed to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Shukla told PTI that the case caused him severe mental stress and harmed his social reputation and career prospects. He claimed he could not secure a promotion to the rank of corporal in the IAF in 2020 and continues to serve as a leading aircraftman.