A man has been acquitted of the charges of raping a woman on the pretext of marriage by a Delhi court as the alleged victim turned hostile and said she was now married to him.
The court freed the man, a resident of Khanpur in south Delhi, after the 20-year-old woman deposed that the physical relations between them were with her consent.
“For the foregoing reasons, particularly in the light of deposition of prosecutrix wherein she deposed that physical relations were established with accused with her consent several times, I find that there is no material on record whatsoever for convicting the accused for the offence with which he was charged,” Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja said.
According to the prosecution, the woman had told the police that she had met the man, an auto rickshaw driver, in 2012-13 when he used to come to his aunt’s place in Paharganj area.
They became friendly and the man established physical relations with her on the promise of marriage, she had told the police, adding when she became pregnant, he refused to marry her.
She narrated the incident to her mother and lodged a complaint at Paharganj Police Station on January 2, this year.
She, however, changed her statement before the court and said she had lodged the complaint in anger and the physical relations between her and the accused were with her consent.
The woman that she got married to the man on January 12, this year and is living happily at her matrimonial house.
The court, in its judgement, said that in view of the fact that the woman, who was the star witness, failed to support the prosecution case, no fruitful purpose would be served by examining remaining witnesses.
“Keeping in view the aforesaid observations and in absence of any incriminating material on record against the accused, recording of his statement under Section 313 of the CrPC is hereby dispensed with,” the court said.
