Chandigarh, May 15 -- Twelve witnesses took the stand, medical records confirmed the rape - but 25 years later, justice slipped away when the complainant, then a minor and now 36 years old, could no longer recognise the accused, who landed behind the bars only 22 years after the alleged crime.

The case, dating back to October 2000, involved the kidnapping and rape of an 11-year-old girl from Chandigarh's Industrial Area. The crime was confirmed through medical examination.

But the long arm of law could not catch the accused, Mukesh, for over two decades.

Arrested in 2022, Mukesh finally faced trial - but gaps in evidence, prosecution's failure to establish her age at the time of crime and the victim turning hostile, after failure to id...