Court acquits retired Haryana bureaucrat in rape case

A Delhi court has acquitted a retired Haryana bureaucrat in a rape case, observing that in many cases when a consensual physical relation breaks, women use the law "as a weapon for vengeance or personal vendetta".
Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain freed the accused, a former principal secretary to a Haryana chief minister, of the charge under section 376(2)(n) (raping a woman repeatedly) of IPC, saying the woman threatened him and lodged a false complaint as he did not succumb to her illegal demands.
"Many of the cases are being reported by those women who have consensual physical relationship but when relationship breaksduetooneortheotherreason,thewomanusesthelaw asaweaponforvengeanceandpersonalvendetta," the judge said while citing another court's judgement.

"I findthatthe womanwasengagedinliaison work and used tocontactseniorbureaucratsand officialsofvarious departments.She alsocontactedthe accused and whenshedid not get much response from him, she sent him threatening messages anddemandedmoney.Whentheaccused did notsuccumb toher illegaldemands,shelodgedthecomplaint," the judge said.
The court noted that the complainant's testimony was full of "embellishmentsandexaggeration" whichdonot find supportfromtheoral anddocumentaryevidence.
The court said that the woman had demandedRs50 lakhfromtheaccused topatchupthematter and had also threatenedtoexpose him before the media and spoilhislife.

(CHANGING SLUG)
The court said that though conviction can be based on the sole testimony of the victim, in such cases which cast a doubt in the mind of the judge, it is not safe to rely on the victim's uncorroborated version.

"Iamconsciousofthelegalpropositionthatthe convictioninsuch casescanbemadeonsoletestimony oftheprosecutrixeven withoutanymedicalcorroborationand theversionofthevictiminrape commands great respect and acceptability but if there are some circumstanceswhichcast doubtinthemindofthecourtoftheveracityof victim's evidencethenitisnotsafetorelyontheuncorroborated versionofthevictimofrape," the judge observed.
According to the prosecution, it was alleged that the woman, who had come from Mumbai for business, had met the accused through a common friend for professional purpose in December 2009.
Later, the accused invited her to Haryana State Guest House and after a few meetings he proposed to her and promised her that he will divorce his wife to marry her, it said.
It said she consented to the proposal and they had physical relations but their affair ended in 2012 when the accused deserted her on the ground that he would not be able to face his daughter if she found about their relationship.

The accused had denied the allegations and claimed he had started avoiding her becauseofherunreasonabledemands and threats.
He statedthatafalsecasewasregisteredagainsthim withoutmaking preliminaryinquiry and she had given a false statement toextortmoneyandto blackmailhim.