Marines case: NIA team may visit Italy to question four Italian witnesses

New Delhi: A youth accused of raping a minor has been acquitted by a Delhi court which observed that the upper caste girl was tutored by her parents to "betray her love" for honouring their "social status". The court acquitted the 20-year-old boy after holding that the minor girl`s testimony was "full of twisted facts" and she had accepted that her parents were opposed to her marriage with him as they belonged to different castes. "Prosecution witness 1 (girl) accepted the suggestion that her parents were opposed to her marriage with the accused due to caste factor," Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma said. "The said facts and circumstances demonstrate without reasonable doubt that during the interregnum, the prosecutrix (girl) had been coached or tutored by her parents to sacrifice her feelings, betray her love for the accused and instead honour their social status. "It strikes to common sense and logic that at the behest of her parents she testified falsely against the accused," the judge said. The court also said that the 17-year-old girl`s testimony was "grossly contradictory" and did not inspire confidence for holding the youth guilty of the charges levelled against him. According to police, the youth, a resident of Delhi, had kidnapped the girl on May 28 with the intention of marrying her. He was also accused of having raped her. A missing complaint in the matter was lodged by the girl`s mother. During the probe, the girl was recovered from a village in Moradabad district in Uttar Pradesh from the custody of the youth and they both were brought to Delhi.