Molestation case: Court acquits Pvt Univ`s chairman

New Delhi: The chairman of a private university and his driver have been acquitted by a Delhi court of the charges of molesting a woman employee of the university in a five-star hotel here.

The court let off the two after the complainant deposed that she had stated against both the accused during the probe of the case under the influence of the police and the members of a non-government organisation. According to the police, the chairman had lured the girl, who was working as a deputy manager in the university, to accompany him to a five star hotel here in July this year and had assaulted and molested her after she refused to have physical relation with him. While acquitting the accused, the court observed that in reporting such cases, the identity of the accused and the complainant "should not be divulged in order to save them from any humiliation and embarrassment in life." The court acquitted the two accused saying that in her statement before it, the girl had clarified that she was not lured to accompany the university`s chairman to the hotel and denied that he had molested or assaulted her. "If she was under any kind of allurement, enticement or threat, she had ample opportunity at the reception of the hotel to raise an alarm. "The conduct of the prosecutrix (girl) itself shows that she was under no threat and had willingly accompanied the accused to the hotel room, knowing fully well the possible consequences of such act," Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Neena Bansal Krishna said. The court also said there was no evidence to establish that the girl was "wrongly restrained inside the hotel room or any injury was caused" to her by the accused. Regarding the driver, the court said there was neither any evidence that he was a co-conspirator with the chairman of the university in the alleged incident nor there was anything to show that he had conspired to abduct the girl. In its charge sheet, the police had said on July 5-6 midnight this year, the chairman had called the girl and had asked her to sign a file for her transfer to Arunachal Pradesh. It said after receiving the call, the girl accompany to his office at KG Marg in his car, but after reaching there, the accused told her that the file was in the hotel and thereafter they went there. After reaching the hotel, they entered into a room where the accused offered her money for having physical relation with her and as the girl refused it, he assaulted her, the police said, adding that she was able to get out of the room and then called her friends who, in turn, informed the police. During the trial, the girl told the court that she had lodged a complaint against both the accused and had recorded her statement before a magistrate under the influence of the police and the members of an NGO who were present in the police station. The court did not record the statement of both the accused considering that there was no incriminating evidence against them. PTI