The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Dr Yashika, on hearing the arguments, acquitted the duo. A detailed judgment in the matter, meanwhile, was yet to be released by the court.Ten years after Chandigarh’s private school administrator and its transporter were booked for not reporting an offence under POCSO (Protection of Children From Sexual Offences) Act, the Special Child and Women Court of Chandigarh Wednesday acquitted them on all charges.The accused, Captain Sanjiv Kumar, the private school administrator, and the transporter, Amrik Singh, were booked under sections 19, 21(2) of the POCSO Act on the basis of recommendations of the Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CCPCR).As per the case, a case of molestation of a 5-year-old minor schoolgirl was reported in 2015, whereby the conductor of the school bus was arrested for the offence. The incident came to the knowledge of the parents on May 7, 2015. The offence was purportedly reported to the police on May 13 by the father of the victim, whereafter an FIR on May 13, 2015, was registered by the police under sections of outraging modesty against the accused bus conductor. As per the allegations against the school administrator and the transporter of the bus, the parents of the victim girl had orally informed the transporter about the incident of molestation on May 8, and the school authorities were orally informed on May 11. Then the written complaint of the incident was given to the school authorities by the father of the victim on May 13, 2015. The school administrator and its transporter were thus booked later on the recommendation of CCPCR for non-reporting the offence. The CCPCR had given its recommendations to the UT Administration to register an FIR against Captain Sanjiv Kumar and bus contractor Amrik Singh on going through the news clips of the case.During the trial, the defence counsel argued that the matter was thoroughly investigated by the police. However, the police found nothing incriminating against Captain Sanjiv Kumar and Amrik Singh. On challan being presented to court of the Special Judge, the trial commenced against the accused bus conductor Jagjit Singh and even the trial judge did not think it fit to make school administrator and the bus transporter, as additional accused. The conductor, Jagjit Singh, was later sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by the trial court in September 2016.The defense counsel, advocate Vikas Sagar, argued that on knowing about the incident, Captain Sanjiv Kumar had immediately informed the father of the girl that this is a police case, but the girl’s father did not want to report the matter to the police as the matter was of a sensitive nature having social implications. The counsel also argued that as per the settled law, there cannot be two separate FIRs cannot be made for offences alleged to be done during the course of the same transaction, thus pleaded that the accused be acquitted.The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Dr Yashika, on hearing the arguments, acquitted the duo. A detailed judgment in the matter, meanwhile, was yet to be released by the court. Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd