New Delhi: A man, accused of raping a girl on the pretext of marriage in 2010, has been acquitted by a Delhi court observing that the alleged victim had "enjoyed" his company for fun and had a liking for him.
Noting that the 18-year-old girl had "freely exercised" a choice between resistance and assent, Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain (ASJ) freed Delhi resident Rocky of the charge of rape under section 376 of the IPC while also saying that there were inconsistencies and discrepancies in the girl's version.
"The facts and circumstances of the present case show that prosecutrix (girl) had liking for the accused but not to the extent of marrying him. She had enjoyed the company of the accused for fun," the court said.
"So how can it be said that there was promise of marriage and on account of this misrepresentation, the prosecutrix had agreed to have physical relations with the accused," it said, adding the girl had sufficient intelligence to understand the significance and moral quality of the act she was consenting to.
"Despite that she did not resist the overtures of the accused and in fact succumbed to it. She thus freely exercised a choice between resistance and assent," it said.
The court noted that girl had given "different versions" regarding the actual act allegedly committed by the accused.
"Inconsistencies and various discrepancies have appeared. Further, there are improvements in her testimony. It also suffers from infirmities. So testimony of the prosecutrix cannot be said to be of sterling quality and no implicit reliance can be placed on her testimony," it said.
According to the prosecution, the girl complained to the police in November 2010 saying that the man was her neighbour and they were meeting each other.
She alleged that on October 9, 2010 when she was returning home from tuition, Rocky met her and proposed to her for marriage. After this he took her to a room and established physical relations with her on the pretext of marriage.
The complainant said she told her parents about it after which the man and his father asked them not to file a complaint as Rocky was ready to marry her.
After the date for their marriage was fixed, the accused and his father told them that he would not marry her, she claimed.
