Thane: Court acquits man accused of manhandling traffic cop in 2010

In Maharashtra's Thane district, a court has acquitted a 41-year-old man who was accused of assaulting a traffic police inspector in 2010, citing the benefit of doubt. Additional Sessions Judge VL Bhosale, in her order passed on November 8, held the prosecution has failed to prove the charges against the accused beyond reasonable doubt and hence he needs to be acquitted.

A copy of the order was made available on Wednesday. Additional Public Prosecutor Varsha Chandane told the court that on November 3, 2010, the traffic police officer was on duty at a chowk in Naupada area of Thane city. At that time, the car of the accused was double-parked and the cop fined him.

The accused got annoyed, he claimed to be a CBI officer and said he would teach discipline to the traffic cop and ruin him. The accused also tried to pull the name plate of the police officer, started pushing him and yelled at him, the prosecution told the court. However, defence counsel Sachin Vaishampayan brought out lapses in the police probe and the prosecution story and said his client was not involved in the crime.  In the order, the judge said no satisfactory answer has come from the prosecution regarding questions raised by the counsel for accused

Showing ownership of the vehicle is not that much importance at this point as the prosecution is not able to prove the presence of accused on the spot, the court said. No evidence in that respect is produced by the prosecution, it said.