India, April 9 -- A court in Maharashtra's Thane has acquitted eight men charged with the attempted murder of a police constable, citing the victim's inability to identify his attackers and the fact that key prosecution witnesses turned hostile.

In her judgment delivered on April 6, Additional Sessions Judge VL Bhosale gave the benefit of doubt to the accused, observing that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

A copy of the order was made available on Wednesday.

According to the prosecution, constable Bhaskar Sonavane was assaulted with sticks and beer bottles outside a bar in the city's Upvan area on April 21, 2016.

The attack was a fallout of a dispute between the hotel management and a customer n...