ALLAHABAD HC RESCUED A MAN CONVICTED FOR RAPE HE DID NOT COMMIT

4th march

A Division Bench of Justices Kaushal Thaker and Gautam Chowdhary came to rescue a man who served jail for the past 20 years connected with a false rape case filed against him by a woman due to a land dispute.

Background:

A woman from UP alleged that she was sexually exploited by Vishnu when she was five-month pregnant. She also stated that this incident happened due to her caste. Following this, he was booked for rape, sexual exploitation and criminal intimidation under IPC and the SC/ST Act. The Trial Court found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment; unable to afford a lawyer, Vishnu could not put up a strong defence to prove his innocence.

Decision

The Bench set aside the order passed by a Trial Court in 2003 while stating, We are unable to convince ourselves with the submission made by learned AGA for State that she has been a victim of atrocity and rape and, therefore, the accused should not be leniently dealt with.

The Hon’ble court concluded, stating that.

• The evidence shows that there are several contradictions in the examination-in-chief as well as cross-examination of all three witnesses.
• The doctor also categorically opined that no signs of forcible sexual intercourse were found.
• While perusing the entire evidence beginning from FIR, we do not find that the commission of the offence was there because the prosecutrix belonged to a certain community.

The Hon’ble bench concluded by stating; we are convinced that the accused has been wrongly convicted; hence, the accused is acquitted. The most unfortunate aspect of this litigation is that the matter remained as a defective matter for a period of 16 years.

Author: Papiha Ghoshal