A court in the Thane district of Maharashtra has cleared a 33-year-old man who was charged with abducting and raping a minor girl in Thane back in 2013. The conviction was handed on February 3 by Special POCSO court judge V V Virkar, who gave the accused the benefit of the doubt and cited a lack of evidence, reported PTI. 

According to the report, the man was charged under Indian Penal Code Sections 363 (kidnapping), 366­A (procuration of minor girl), and 376(3) (rape on a woman under 16 years of age), in addition to the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. He lived in the Brahmananda Nagar neighbourhood in the Bhiwandi area of Thane. The girl, who was about 16 at the time, was allegedly abducted and abused between February 14 and September of that year.