Court acquits man in rape case as complainant turns hostile

New Delhi: A man accused of raping a married woman has been acquitted by a Delhi court after the complainant turned hostile and said she had lodged a false case under her husband`s pressure.

The special fast track court acquitted Delhi-resident Amit Kumar of the charges of raping and committing unnatural offence with a 24-year-old woman, saying she had admitted that her husband had pressurised her to lodge a false complaint against the accused as they had an altercation between them. "It is held that prosecution could not prove its case against accused (Kumar) beyond any reasonable suspicion and shadow of doubt that he either committed offence of rape or unnatural offence or offence of criminal intimidation ... Consequently, by giving him benefit of doubt, accused is acquitted," Additional Sessions Judge TR Naval, who decided the case within three months, said. Kumar was acquitted by the court on the day when charges under various sections of the IPC, including sections 376 (rape) and 377 (unnatural offence), were framed against him. According to the police, between October 2012 to February 2013, Kumar had allegedly raped the woman and had threatened her that if she disclosed this fact to anyone, he would upload her obscene photographs on the Internet and would also kill her. When Kumar committed unnatural offence with her, she told her husband about it and a case was lodged at Jagatpuri police station here and Kumar was arrested on March 20, 2013, police had said. During the trial, the woman was the first prosecution witness examined by the court and she deposed that she knew Kumar, a property dealer. She testified that in December last year, an altercation took place between Kumar and her husband, who pressurised her to make a complaint against Kumar. She also said that her husband also threatened her that if she would not lodge a complaint against Kumar, he would divorce her. The woman told the court that she was pregnant at that time and had lodged a false case against Kumar in order to save her marriage and child. She was declared hostile and during her cross examination by the prosecutor, the woman denied that Kumar had raped her or had committed unnatural offence. The court did not record Kumar`s statement, saying that no incriminating evidence was found against him. "I come to the conclusion that prosecution has failed to prove its case against accused. The reasons which support my decision are firstly, that prosecutrix aged 24 years deposed that....An altercation took place between her husband and accused on the point of commission. Her husband pressurised her to make a complaint against the accused that accused came to her house and misbehaved with her," the judge noted in his judgement. PTI