Court frees 'impotent' husband in false rape case

A man and his family members have been acquitted by a Delhi court of the charges of raping, molesting and threatening his wife, saying she lodged a false complaint to get rid of her "impotent" husband.
"... Her marriage was not consummated on account of impotency of her husband, which was the sole reason for her strained relations with her husband and in-laws," Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat said, after the woman confessed to have filed the false case.
"She had left her matrimonial house only for this reason and filed a false complaint alleging rape as well as unnatural sex by her brothers-in-law and molestation as well as attempt to rape by her father-in-law, only to put pressure upon her husband and in-laws to divorce her," the judge said.

The court noted that the woman deposed "totally contrary" to the prosecution case and also admitted that her husband was impotent due to which their marriage could not be consummated.
The husband was arrested while his parents and other family members were granted anticipatory bail.
The court acquitted the woman's husband, parents-in-law, three brothers-in-law, two sisters-in-law of the offences under sections 498A (cruelty), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 354 (molestation) read with 34 (common intention) of IPC.

It also noted that during pendency of the case, the woman had reached a settlement with the man and her in-laws.

"She ultimately succeeded in getting divorce from her husband and also money towards her claims regarding maintenance. The fact remains that she had implicated all the accused falsely in this case by levelling baseless allegations upon them to serve her own ends," the court said.
The woman, in her complaint filed in 2014, had alleged that within a month of her marriage in February 2013, her husband and in-laws began physically torturing her and demanded dowry of Rs 10 lakh along with gold jewellery.
She also alleged that her brothers-in-law and father-in- law committed unnatural sex with her and threatened her.

However, during her cross-examination in the court, she resiled from the complaint made before the police, saying the allegations were incorrect and she levelled them under police's pressure.
"Since the prosecutrix has not supported the case of the prosecution and there being no other eyewitness to incident, it was found futile to carry on trial of case any further," the court said.
During the trial, the accused denied the allegations and claimed they were falsely implicated.