The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday quashed a rape case registered against Kulashekar Chaithanya Das, who was a full-time volunteer and public relations in-charge at ISKCON, Bengaluru. The case was registered based on a private complaint lodged by a woman before a magistrate in 2011-2012.
Justice Anand Byrareddy passed the order while allowing a petition filed by Mr. Das questioning the summons issued to him in 2016 by the magistrate court.
Noting that the complainant had refused to undergo a medical test as per the law, despite being issued several notices after an FIR was registered on the direction of the magistrate’s court, the High Court observed that this was “odd”.
The court also observed that in none of the complaints filed before the police and various other authorities, including the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission, had the woman or her mother complained about any sexual relationship/ rape / attempt to rape by Mr. Das. The allegation of rape was made after several years, while recording their statements before the magistrate, Justice Byrareddy said.
Mr. Das said he had lodged a complaint against the woman and her mother on March 21, 2011 for allegedly harassing him to marry the woman. And the woman and her mother, as a counter to his complaint, had lodged a complaint against him on March 29, 2011, accusing him of not marrying her as promised after an alleged love affair.
Stating that no logical conclusion could be reached based on the complaint, the HC observed that the criminal proceedings had “caused anxiety and hardship to the petitioner for five years, and if allowed to linger further it would result in encouraging a gross abuse of the process of the court”.
