Dubai: A visitor was cleared of hugging an 11-year-old boy when the latter was walking back home, kissing him against his will and making him touch him indecently.

The 11-year-old Indian schoolboy was going back home after a private lesson at a house close to his residence in December.

The 28-year-old Pakistani visitor stopped him and kissed him five times.

The visitor was also believed to have hugged the boy, according to records, and made him touch his private parts before the boy pushed the man away and ran to his house.

Citing lack of corroborated and insufficient evidence, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the 28-year-old man of molesting the boy.

The boy’s father was claimed to have been shocked when his son told him about what had reportedly happened but did not report the matter to the police.

After the boy’s mother returned from vacation in India, she came to know about her son’s ordeal and later she heard from neighbours that another boy was also molested. Then, the family reported the matter to the police in January 2017.

Prosecutors accused the suspect of hugging, kissing and making the boy touch him indecently.

When he showed up before the court, the Pakistani man strongly refuted his accusations.

He told the presiding judge: “I did not touch him. This is a fabricated case lodged against me out of malice.”

The boy was quoted as telling prosecutors that his father did not report the matter to the police initially.

“When our neighbour got molested in January, they reported to the police and my parents also informed the police,” the boy claimed.

The mother alleged to prosecutors that her husband was too shocked to report the matter to the police.

“When we came to know after two weeks that our neighbour’s child had been molested, we reported the matter to the police. My son identified the suspect from a line-up of suspects,” she was quoted as saying in her testimony.

Prosecutors appealed the primary judgement before the Appeal Court and are seeking to overturn the suspect’s acquittal and have him punished.

A hearing will be held on November 1.