A man accused of raping a girl after administering her sedatives has been acquitted by a Delhi court as the charges against him could not be proved due to the death of the victim during the trial.
Additional Sessions Judge Gulshan Kumar acquitted a resident of Delhi of the charges of rape, causing hurt by giving poison and threatening the victim, saying she was the main witness in the case and due to her death, the charges against the accused could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt.
“In these circumstances, when the main witness of the case i.e. victim has unfortunately expired and she could not be fully cross-examined on behalf of accused, I am of the considered view that case is not proved against accused beyond reasonable doubt...
“Accordingly, the accused is acquitted of the offences under the provisions of the IPC he was charged with,” the judge said. The reason for the death was not mentioned in the order.
The court was informed by the police that the girl had died in September last year in a hospital here.
According to the prosecution, the girl had lodged a case against the accused alleging that he had raped her on December 22, 2010 in a house in Sarojini Nagar after administering her sedatives.
She had also alleged that thereafter on several occasions, the accused obtained her consent for sexual intercourse by stating that he was unmarried and also threatened to kill her, the police had said.
The accused was already out on bail in the case. The case was at the stage of recording of prosecution evidence in which the girl has been partly cross-examined by counsel of the accused and her testimony was yet to be completed.
Keywords: Rape charges, Trial court, Rape victim
Such of these cases reduces the importance of the case of real rape victims. However the trial should have taken place fast with out generous adjournments. The parliament must bring a law that no more than 3 adjournments of one week permitted on either side in any case. There must be strict time limit for disposal of cases by judges.The courts must be staffed & equipped to render fair & speedy justice. In the above case justice is denied to one of them due to delay.
What a shame? This is a clear case of justice denied due to delay on the part of court!
Why does India still continue to worship males in the name of God? The defense lawyer had the nerve to defend a man who committed the worst crime. Women have to stop thinking they are vulnerable and start fighting back even if it brings shame to the family. Guess the same happened now. I do not know under which circumstances she had to allow such a crime to happen more than once, but many citizens of India mostly enjoy watching a women getting raped - be it real life or cinema! In the name of preserving culture (that worships male of masculinity) such crimes are being allowed? I mean does the girl have to wake up from her grave and testify in the court to punish this man? This is 2013 we as a nation, who wants to call ourselves developed nation, are fighting for access to medicine in rural areas, crimes against women, dowry, male worship, among other things. When will we all get a back bone and start standing up for ourselves instead of relying on the politicians and govt.?
what kind of judgement is this. Of course victim died, but crime
and criminal is still there. There can be other kind of witnesses
which can be produced for the crime. This is no solution,
acquitting the accused, as a witness died. In a sense its a
provocation to kill after rape. I am saddened.
This judgement is the one of the reasons why our legal system gets a
bad name.Why was he given bail in the first place.He should now be
charged with murder since the victim is dead.Instead he has been freed
to give his attention to another poor victim.
The Law Takes "ITS OWN COURSE"HOWEVER,dubious and tortuous the routes are the routes for the victims.The Citizens of the country are fooled by the way the Womens' Security issues are considered
they are obscured by the immediate huury for Lowering the Age of Consent' to 16 without taking in to consideration the implications of such an insentive act on the pending cases and would be attacks on girls
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