Indore court acquits UP bangle seller accused of sexual harassment, carrying fake documents

Indore, Dec 3 (PTI) A bangle seller from Uttar Pradesh who was accused of molesting a girl and carrying fake identity documents has been acquitted of all the charges by the sessions court here for want of evidence.

A day before he was booked for alleged molestation, a video of Tasleem alias Golu (28) being thrashed by some people had gone viral.

Rashmi Walter, special judge for cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act cases, pronounced the order of acquittal on Monday.

The prosecution failed to prove the charges against Tasleem, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Hardoi district, said the court in its 27-page verdict.

On August 22, 2021, Tasleem was allegedly beaten up in an Indore locality where he was selling bangles by going from door to door. In the First Information Report registered at the Central Kotwali police station, he alleged that five-six men asked him his name, and when he gave it, they started beating him while also making communal remarks.

The next day, another FIR was registered against him at Banganga police station under the POCSO Act and Indian Penal Code sections 354 (use of criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 420 (cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document).

It was based on a complaint by a 13-year-old schoolgirl who claimed that on the afternoon of August 22, he visited her house to sell bangles, stating that his name was "Golu, son of Mohan Singh", and touched her with bad intentions saying "you are so beautiful".

As per this FIR, two Aadhaar cards with different names were also found in his bag.

"I was innocent. I was implicated in a false case by some people. But I had full faith in the Constitution and judicial system of the country," Tasleem told PTI.

"I have finally got justice," he said, adding, "I want the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb (syncretic culture) of Indore to remain intact forever." As to the case of assault where he is the complainant, it is pending before the district court, said his lawyer Sheikh Aleem. PTI HWP MAS KRK