Man acquitted of charge of raping sister-in-law

A Delhi court has acquitted a man of the charges of raping his sister-in-law and forcing her to terminate her pregnancy saying both the woman and police had failed to explain the delay of nine months in lodging a complaint, which proved fatal to the prosecution's story.
Additional Sessions Judge Nivedita Anil Sharma exonerated the man, a resident of west Delhi, of the charges of rape, causing miscarriage without woman's consent and criminal intimidation.
The court said there does not appear to be any criminal intention on the part of the accused and the version of the 27-year-old woman appeared to be untrue.

"The prosecutrix and the prosecution have not been able to justify the delay as to why she did not report the matter immediately or earlier. No logical explanation has been furnished by prosecution for the delay of about nine months.
"Therefore, it can be said that the FIR was lodged after a delay which is fatal to the prosecution story. The delay has not been satisfactorily explained by the prosecutrix and the prosecution," the court said.
It added that a story has been projected that the accused has raped the woman and caused her abortion and this version appears to be untrue as there is no reason why he would do so.

"No reason is shown as to why the accused would jeopardise his own marriage and spoil the relations with his marital family. There is nothing on the record to show that the accused has committed the offence, as alleged by the prosecution," the court said.

According to the prosecution, the police had filed a charge sheet against the man on the allegations that for nine months prior to August 2013, he repeatedly raped the woman in Shakur Basti area here and forcibly caused her miscarriage.
The woman deposed in the court that in 2013 when she was turned out from her matrimonial house by her husband, her brother-in-law intervened and took her to his house.

He repeatedly raped her for about nine months and also beat her, she said, adding that when she got pregnant, he got her abortion done and again raped her.
She said she escaped to her parents' residence and called the police and informed them about the incident.