POCSO Court Acquits Muslim Man Whose Arm Was Amputated In Alleged Hate Crime
By Ritika Jain A local court in Panipat on May 20 acquitted Ikhlak Salmani of sodomising a minor boy a year and a half after he was arrested by the Haryana Police. A fast-track court cleared Salmani—who alleged that his arm was chopped off because he was a Muslim—of all charges after observing that the prosecution had failed to make its case beyond the shadow of reasonable doubt. The testimonies of the victim and the key witnesses could not be corroborated by medical evidence, the court observed adding that they ran "rather contrary to the assertions made by the victim." "The entire case of th...