Man acquitted of rape charges

New Delhi: A man, accused of repeatedly raping his landlord`s handicapped daughter for five months and threatening her, has been acquitted by a Delhi court which said the girl was a consenting party in the sexual act. The court gave the North East Delhi resident benefit of doubt and said the testimony of the 20-year-old girl was found "inconsistent, contradictory, unreliable and untrustworthy".

"It is held that prosecution could not prove its case beyond any reasonable suspicion and shadow of doubt against the accused that he committed the offence of rape or criminal intimidation. "Resultantly, the accused is acquitted for the offences punishable under Section 376 (rape)/506(criminal intimidation) of the IPC by giving him benefit of doubt," Additional Sessions Judge T R Naval said. The court also said the portion of a letter written by the girl to the man has also established that she was in love with him and she was a consenting party to the sexual act. According to the prosecution, the case was lodged by the girl, who was suffering from polio, in October 2008, alleging that the man who has been living in her house as a tenant had raped her repeatedly for five months. She said she stayed alone in her house during the day as her parents used to leave home in the morning for work. She alleged that the man had been raping her for a period of five months and had threatened to kill her brother if she disclosed the incident to anyone. The girl reported the matter to police after she became pregnant and underwent an abortion. The court said there was an unreasonable and unexplained delay in reporting the matter to the police. During the trial, the man had claimed that the girl`s parents were pressurising him and his family members to marry her but when he and his family members declined the proposal, he was falsely implicated in this case.