Noida: A man accused of killing his 96-year-old grandfather was acquitted by a fast-track court. It noted that a false complaint had been lodged by the man’s brother and ordered that a separate criminal miscellaneous case be registered against the brother for giving false evidence in the court.A separate miscellaneous case is an independent court proceeding registered to deal with a specific issue that is ancillary to the main case, rather than the main dispute itself.An FIR was registered at the Phase-3 police station on Aug 23, 2021, after Rambabu’s brother Manoj Kumar told the cops that his maternal grandfather, Munshi Lal, was at home in Chhijarsi the previous day when his brother assaulted him, resulting in grave injuries. He was taken to the govt hospital in Nithari, where the old man died during treatment. A case was registered under sections 363 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) IPC.Following an investigation, police filed a chargesheet with the magistrate court and the case was committed for a sessions trial on Dec 23, 2021. The court framed charges against Rambabu on May 31 next year. He denied the charges and sought a trial, following which the prosecution presented eight witnesses, including the plaintiff and neighbours.During cross-examination, Manoj Kumar changed his statement. He said his grandfather had been thrown out of his house by his family and then his elder brother, Rambabu, had brought him home and was taking care of him. He added that on Aug 22, 2021, his grandfather had slipped while coming down the stairs. The brothers then took him to the hospital, but he died during treatment. Kumar further said that following his death, a large crowd gathered, and someone in the crowd alerted the police, who arrived at the scene. The police took him to the police station in a vehicle. They coerced him into writing a statement, based on which a case was registered. He was so frightened, he wrote down whatever the police told him and they also made him sign blank papers.The court noted the prosecution did not declare the witness hostile, so the credibility of his testimony was doubtful. It also noted that none of the other witnesses had seen Rambabu assault his grandfather. Additional sessions judge Saurabh Dwivedi acquitted him on July 18 after being convinced that he had given shelter to his grandfather and taken good care of him.“The court is of the opinion that the prosecution has failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the charges levelled against the accused… The accused is liable to be acquitted and directed to submit a personal bond of Rs 25,000 and two sureties of the same amount under Section 437A of the CrPC,” the court ruled.
