Doctor acquitted of raping woman employee in Delhi

A doctor has been acquitted by a Delhi court of the charges of repeatedly raping a woman employee on the ground that the testimony of the alleged victim was not "convincing."

New Delhi: A doctor has been acquitted by a Delhi court of the charges of repeatedly raping a woman employee of his hospital on the ground that the testimony of the alleged victim was not "convincing."

Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau absolved Dr Pramod Kumar of the charges of repeatedly raping the woman after giving her poison in form of tablets and wrongfully confining and intimidating her. According to the prosecution, Kumar had raped the woman on several occasions at his hospital in Jahangir Puri and at his friend house in Rohini in September and October 2009 after giving her some stupefying substance. It had also alleged that accused had wrongfully confined the woman and had threatened to kill her. The court also noted that the woman had earlier also levelled similar allegations of rape against another person saying that he had cheated her and had made physical relations with her on a false promise of marriage. The woman, however, during the trial did not make any allegation against that person as she had already settled the matter with him in that case, it noted. "This previous complaint of the woman against another man becomes relevant in the present case as it indicates that the allegations made in both the complaints are virtually similar with Jai Narain as a witness in both the complaints. "This certainly appears to be more than a coincidence and it is for this reason that this court is required to exercise caution while analysing her testimony," the court said. The court acquitted the doctor saying it does not appear convincing that after the first incident of sexual assault by the doctor, she would not have disclosed the incident to anybody or would have continued working with him and permitted herself to be "exploited without any objection." "Either the allegations made are false and if not so, then the possibility of the woman herself being a consenting adult cannot be ruled out," the court said. It said the woman`s statement that she was given some tablets by the doctor and was raped and confined in a room in the hospital for two days appears to be "unbelievable." "How is it possible that a nurse/employee of the hospital who is an adult is confined in a room inside the hospital and the other staff of the hospital does not notice the same? This appears to be unbelievable. It is further not convincing that such a hue and cry would be raised and nobody else would be aware of the same," it said. PTI