Wife alleges sexual assault on four-year-old daughter by husband
HC finds gaps in chargesheet, orders probe by new officer
Bengaluru (PTI): The High Court of Karnataka has ordered further investigation in a case where the husband has been accused by the wife of sexually abusing their four-year-old daughter.
The High Court found as many as nine lacunas in the charge sheet filed by the investigating officer.
It directed the Commissioner of Police to appoint a new Investigating Officer (IO) in the case who shall complete the further investigation within 10 weeks.
The wife had filed a complaint against her husband in August 2022 making "certain grave allegations." She had alleged that her husband was sexually perverted and watched pornography involving children. He allegedly took naked photos of himself with their four-year-old daughter and touched her inappropriately.
He demanded sex with the wife in the presence of the child. The husband allegedly loaded child pornography in the child's iPad and compelled her to watch them.
After her complaint, the husband was booked under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).
A charge sheet was filed before the Sessions Court in October 2022 by the police after completing investigation. The wife however filed an application seeking further investigation as she found that several issues were not investigated.
Her application was rejected, forcing her to approach the High Court.
In his recent judgment, Justice M Nagaprasanna allowed the petition and directed the police to conduct further investigation. The HC noticed nine lacunas in the charge sheet filed by the police.
The HC said, "On a perusal of the charge sheet and the documents appended to the charge sheet, all the aforesaid lacunae, prima facie are correct. All the nine rungs which are in the considered view of the Court's vital piece of evidence have been deliberately let off by the Investigating Officer. If this would not form the ingredients of a shoddy investigation, I fail to understand as to what would."
Among the loopholes in the charge sheet, the HC found that while the statement of the child mentioned the name of the accused, it was not mentioned in the charge sheet.
Secondly, "the Investigating Officer has deliberately ignored incriminating material against the accused as a truncated statement forms part of the charge sheet," the HC noted.
The child's statement before the doctor was also not included in the charge sheet and the IO failed to record or conduct enquiry with the petitioner (wife) to substantiate the allegations.
The IO also failed to seize the laptop or mobile phones allegedly containing pornography nor inquired about them. The iPad was sent for FLS report which is still pending "but the charge sheet is filed. This is the sixth rung," the HC said.
The location of the use of laptop and mobile phones was also not mentioned in the charge sheet.
The IO also failed to record statements of other witnesses like maternal grandparents and other relatives about the perverted attitude of the accused-husband.
Even the report of the psychologist who had given a detailed report of the torment undergone by the child was not made part of the charge sheet.
The HC directed the trial court to wait for the further investigation.
"Till the filing of the report of further investigation, the concerned court shall not proceed further with the present charge sheet that is filed before it. On further investigation reports being filed before this court, the concerned court is at liberty to regulate its procedure and proceed further in accordance with law," the Court said.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
