THANE: A 28-year-old man who was accused of slapping an assistant bank manager of a centralised bank was acquitted as the prosecution failed to prove the charges in the Thane sessions court.Additional sessions judge VL Bhosale acquitted the accused in its recent order.It was on 17 October 2018, the accused went to the branch of a nationalised bank and asked for work to be done by his aged father about the new ATM card.The complainant started checking on the system if theATM card was issued or not. He then told the accused that he is unable to find it in the system and told him to check another counter of the branch. The accused was miffed that the bank employees were sending him from one counter to another counter and raised his voice. The complainant warned him if he misbehaves, he will not give any information. The furious accused then slapped the assistant manager on his right side of the face. The security guard intervened and the accused was taken aside of the branch.Later, he was booked under section 353 Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty and section 332 (Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of indian penal code at Rabodi police station and tried in the case.The chargesheet was filed and the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. The judge in its order observed that the complainant is unable to identify the accused as many customers visit the bank. Even the security guard said that he is unable to identify the accused.The judge further noted that , no conclusion can be drawn that the accused had obstructed the informant while he was doing his duty as a public servant with intent to deter him from discharging his duty, slapped him on his right cheek causing hurt to him. From the above discussion, it has become crystal clear that none of the witnesses has supported the story of the prosecution and the incident has not been proved by the prosecution. Hence, further question of beating the informant by the accused and causing hurt to him does not appear.

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