4 including principal, teacher accused of raping sweeper inside Delhi school acquitted

Four people, including the principal and teacher of a school, who allegedly gangraped a sweeper on the premises of the educational institution were acquitted by a court here due to inordinate delay of four years in filing of the complaint.

Additional Sessions Judge Umed Singh Grewal observed that the delay resulted in the "weak nature of evidence of the victim".

The court acquitted the president, vice president, principal and a teacher of the school accused of raping the woman in 2010.

In her complaint, the woman said that was employed as a sweeper at the school since 2009. On the day of the incident, she was asked to come to work despite being a Sunday on account of an examination being conducted by the National Open School (NOS).

However, she was gangraped by the four men inside the school.

The court observed that the prosecution failed to prove that the NOS conducted the examination in the school of the accused on any Sunday of 2010 due to which the woman's claim of being raped had not been proved.

The woman had also alleged that the officials threatened to fire her if she intimated anybody about the incident because of which she did not lodge an FIR immediately after being raped. She was ultimately fired from the job in March 2013.

However, the court observed that since she was appointed through an NGO, a threatening from the school officials would have had no bearing on her.

"It is held that the prosecution has failed to prove that the victim was employed with the school. Due to being an employee of NGO, it can be said that no threat advanced by the accused persons to terminate the service of the victim, was working upon her," the court said.