A court in Idukki, Kerala has acquitted a 43-year-old man, Saji Kuttappan, who was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting his minor daughter after he objected to her relationship with her boyfriend in Ayyappancoil. Special Court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act judge Bilkul G R acquitted Saji after finding him not guilty in the case. The case was registered in September 2024 after the daughter alleged that her father had sexually assaulted her from the age of 12.
Saji was arrested on September 17, 2024, and remained in jail for over 18 months before being granted bail. During the trial, the court noted that an Anganwadi worker in Vagamon had passed information about the alleged sexual assault to Childline, which was informed by her son, the complainant’s boyfriend. Saji denied the charges, stating that his daughter was using a phone excessively and showing laziness in her studies, and he had advised her and warned her about such conduct.
He claimed that his daughter and her boyfriend, with the help of his mother, had registered a false case against him in retaliation. The prosecution submitted that the manner in which the crime was registered and the improbability of obtaining medical records or scientific evidence should not stand in the way of the victim getting justice for the alleged sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. However, the court noted that the complainant had revealed the alleged sexual assault only to her boyfriend, despite having female friends at college and in the neighbourhood.
The court also noted that the boyfriend had not told her that he intended to inform the police, but instead told her that two counsellors would come to meet her. The court observed that the defence plea that there was an element of false implication and that the complainant and her boyfriend had a motive behind it could not be lightly brushed aside. The court found that the evidence led by the prosecution through the complainant could not prove the prime charge levelled against the accused.
A total of 16 witnesses were examined by the court, including three defence witnesses, and 20 documents were presented as evidence in the case. The complainant’s boyfriend, mother, and brother were listed as prime witnesses but were not examined by the prosecution during the trial, instead being examined as defence witnesses. Advocate Joby George, who represented Saji, stated that the boyfriend was acquitted in a separate POCSO Act case registered for allegedly sexually assaulting the complainant, as she had testified in his favour.
The complainant, who is now a major, resides with her boyfriend. George said that crucial evidence was the statement given by Saji’s wife and son, and that when they examined the boyfriend as a defence witness, several crucial pieces of evidence emerged. George also stated that even though grave allegations were raised against Saji, his wife and son stood by him, and they were sure that he would never commit such a crime.
