Delhi court acquits prisoner accused of assaulting jail official

New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) A Delhi court has acquitted a prisoner accused of assaulting a jail official and said he was entitled to the benefit of the doubt owing to the "pile of contradictions" in the prosecution’s case.

Judicial magistrate Bharti Garg was hearing the case against accused Salman Tyagi booked for allegedly assaulting an assistant superintendent of Tihar prison.

According to the prosecution, Tyagi, who was jailed, threatened, pushed and thrashed the prison official when he was being produced virtually on July 30, 2021.

In an order dated August 6, the court said there were material inconsistencies in the statements of the complainant in relation to his court deposition.

It said neither did the evidence of a crucial prosecution witness "inspire confidence", nor was his presence established at the time of the alleged incident.

"There is no other corroborative evidence on record. It is inexplicable as to why the medical examination of complainant was not conducted, although he was posted at Tihar Jail and getting the medical examination done at the jail hospital would have been the most convenient thing to do," the order said.

The CCTV footage was not procured despite the installation of CCTV cameras at the site, it added.

"The best possible evidence of the case seems to have been withheld by the prosecution which creates a serious dent in the truthfulness of prosecution story," the court said.

The FIR was stated to have not been promptly registered, with there being "ample opportunity" to "concoct and deliberate with the complainant to file an embellished report.

Besides, the court said the complaint appeared to have been "made in a mechanical manner with the sole intent to falsely implicate the accused".

"The documentary evidence adduced by prosecution also suffers from serious infirmities and adds up to the pile of contradictions emerging in the prosecution case, thereby leading to the irresistible conclusion that the accused is entitled to benefit of doubt," the court said.

Tyagi was booked under Sections 186 (obstructing public servant from discharge of public functions) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public sevant from discharge of his duty) of IPC. PTI MNR MNR AMK AMK