New Delhi: A man facing trial for charges of raping a girl repeatedly on the pretext of marrying her has been let off by a Delhi court as she turned hostile and refused to pursue the case after the accused tied the knot with her.
A special fast track court, constituted to try cases of sexual offences against women, acquitted Varun Kapoor noting that the girl, who was the main witness, turned hostile and was "happily married" to him.
"In the circumstances, as the prosecutrix who is the star witness has turned hostile and has not supported prosecution case and more importantly has married the accused (Kapoor) and is living with him happily and has not assigned any criminal role to the accused, the prosecution evidence is closed...," additional sessions judge Nivedita Anil Sharma said.
In this case, the girl had lodged a complaint in February last year alleging that she was repeatedly raped by Kapoor on the pretext of marrying her.
When the case was put on trial she said that a complaint was lodged due to "misunderstanding" and Kapoor has honoured his assurance by eventually marrying her on June 1 last year.
Taking into account that the girl turned hostile and also that she is now happily married, the bench acquitted Kapoor.
"It would also not be in the welfare and interest of the prosecutrix as she is happily married with the accused," the court said.
"Consequently, no inference can be drawn that the accused is guilty of raping the prosecutrix. There is no material on record to suggest that the prosecutrix was raped. No case is made out against the accused as there is no incriminating evidence against him," it said.
PTI
