Accused acquitted of rape charge, HC pulls up police

Pulling up police for 'tardy and inefficient' probe against the accused, the Madras High Court has acquitted a person of the charge of raping a hearing and speech impaired woman though a DNA test confirmed that he was the father of her child.
The DNA test had confirmed that the rape accused was the father of the child, but that was not enough, and police had not conducted a proper investigation to prove the case, Justice M Sathyanarayanan of Madurai bench said, acquitting Selvam charged of raping the woman, who is no more.
Allowing the appeal filed by Selvam, the judge blamed the police's "tardy and inefficient" investigation for not being able to confirm the conviction and sentence.

The judge said police in Madurai district had registered a First Information Report in the case under Sections 417 (cheating) and 376(1) (rape) of the IPC on the basis of a complaint lodged by the girl's brother in 1996.
According to the complainant, the appellant Selvam, who used to accompany the victim while grazing cattle, had raped her. The incident came to light only after she became pregnant.
The victim had told the local panchayat that Selvam had forced her into a sexual relationship, which he denied.

The FIR was registered on November 22,1996, but final report was filed only on September 24, 2004 and trial held from 2006. Meanwhile, the complainant, his mother and the Sub-Inspector who registered the case had died. They had not been examined.

The judge said the prosecution case fell as the complainant was not examined. It was very difficult to digest the explanation that prosecution could not examine the complainant as he had died.
They did not explain why it took two years to commence trial, the judge said.
As per the legal provisions, the appellant should have been sentenced to not less than seven years of imprisonment.
But the Mahila court, in 2007, had sentenced him to just three years of imprisonment under IPC sec.376(1). Adequate reasons had not been given by the trial court for reduced sentence, the judge said.