Man, accused of raping his sister-in-law, acquitted

Additional Sessions Judge Nisha Saxena acquitted Nizamuddin of charges of raping his sister-in-law saying that the accused is entitled to the "benefit of doubt" as the victim's story is "improbable".

"The evidence of the prosecutrix is found suffering from serious infirmities and inconsistencies. The victim has made deliberate improvements on the material points and has evaded relevant questions in her cross examination," the court said.

The prosecution said that Nizamuddin had gone to the victim's house in May 2008, when her husband and children were away to Hapur in Uttar Pradesh.

Nizamuddin, who was the husband of victim's sister, had asked the woman to open the door as the police was chasing him and he wanted to stay at her house for the night, it said.

The prosecution added after the accused was given shelter, he entered the victim's room and raped her.

The counsel for Nizamuddin, however, submitted to the court that if there had been such incident, the victim would have raised the alarm.

"Her conduct shows she is trying to implicate the accused falsely, due to family enmity," the counsel said.

"In the instant case, the evidence of the victim when read in its totality and the story projected by her is found to be improbable and therefore the allegations made are liable to be rejected. The accused is accordingly entitled to the benefit of doubt," the court said, concurring with the defence counsel's submission.