75yr old yoga teacher falsely accused of rape, acquitted

New Delhi: A 75-year-old yoga teacher, who was accused of raping his disciple for almost an year on the pretext of marrying her, has been acquitted by a Delhi court after the complainant retracted, saying she had filed a false complaint. Additional Sessions Judge Nivedita Anil Sharma acquitted the senior citizen, a resident of west Delhi while observing that the victim had turned hostile and deposed that the accused had never established physical relations with her or promised marriage. "The prosecutrix (girl), has not deposed an iota of evidence of her being raped at all. She has not even mentioned the word `rape` or any other offence in her evidence nor has deposed anything incriminating against the accused," the court said. The girl deposed in the court that she implicated the man at the behest of another woman named Reena, the whereabouts of who were not known to the police. "It is clear that the evidence of the prosecution is neither reliable nor believable and is not trustworthy..." the court said. The prosecution case was that the girl and her father had learnt from some relative about the accused, who taught meditation and yoga. In February 2011 they came to his house and stayed with him for 15 days and practised yoga. Thereafter, they visited him in July, August and September 2011. The girl said in her police complaint she had good relations with accused who initiated proposal of marriage and she and her father accpeted it. She said as the accused was about 75 years old and a widower with one son and a daughter who were already married and living separately, her father wanted accused to provide some monetary security for her by giving her some right in his property. Accused assured them of getting the relevant documents prepared but he never got them prepared which caused some tension between them. In February 2011, the accused gave her some intoxicant and raped her and continued to establish physical relations with her till November 2011, she said in her complaint.

Before the court, however, the girl deposed that she used to meet a woman named Reena at the park near the accused`s house. Reena had told her that the accused was marrying her, the complainant claimed.