Delay in filing complaint no ground to doubt case: Court

A court here has said that delay in lodging a complaint was no ground to doubt the case of the prosecution and convicted a man of sodomising and molesting a five-year-old girl in his neighbourhood.

Metropolitan Magistrate Shivani Chauhan held the man guilty of the offences of molestation and sodomy.

The court convicted him while relying on the testimonies of the girl and her mother.

"The delay in making the complaint itself is no ground to doubt the case of the prosecution which has already been duly proved through the unrebutted testimony of the victim and her mother.

"Thus, it is held that the prosecution has succeeded in proving the case," it said.

The court said that a delay of 5-6 months in filing the complaint was explained by the girl's mother, who said that the man's sister had assured her that he would not visit their vicinity again.

"She made the complaint when the man again started frequenting the vicinity to visit the house of his sister, who refused to stop him from doing so," the order said.

The magistrate took into consideration that the trustworthy and unrebutted testimony of the girl was sufficient to prove the man's guilt.

In December 2007, the child was standing outside her house when the man, her neighbour, lured her by giving her a gift. He took her to the terrace of his building where he sexually assaulted her and committed unnatural sex with her, police said.