Following the testimony of the victim that she had eloped with the accused of her own accord, a Delhi court has acquitted a man of rape charge.
The Delhi Police had lodged a case against Sunny following a complaint by the victim’s mother after she went missing in 2014. The police found the couple at the residence of the accused’s sister in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district at the instance of Mr. Sunny’s cousin.
Victim’s u-turn
The probe agency slapped the rape charge against him under the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act after the victim told them that he had established physical relations with her at his sister’s home without her consent on the pretext of marriage.
However, the victim did a complete u-turn during the trial and deposed that she was married to the accused and had a daughter.
Though the police had lodged the case following a complaint by the victim’s mother, they did not examine her in the trial saying she was a redundant witness.
The court also found that the victim was a major at the time of the incident, so it dropped the rape charge against the accused under POCSO Act.
It stopped the trial midway by dispensing with the recording of the statement of the accused when the victim turned hostile in the witness box.
“From the aforesaid testimony of the prosecutrix [the victim], it is apparent that no rape was committed by the accused upon her. She has denied any sexual assault upon her by the accused. She categorically stated that she had gone with the accused of her own free will, performed marriage with him and is residing with him as his wife. She did not state that the accused allured her in any manner or forced her to accompany him or that accused made physical relations with her or sexually assaulted her on the pretext of marriage against her consent,” Additional Sessions Judge Balwant Rai Bansal said.
“Thus, keeping in view the testimony of PW1 [the victim], there being no material or evidence against the accused, Mr. Sunny is not found guilty of committing the offence punishable under section 376 of IPC and is entitled to be acquitted. Accordingly, he is also acquitted of the said offence punishable under Section 376 IPC,” the judge said acquitting him.
