Man acquitted of charge of raping woman on pretext of marriage

A man, accused of raping a woman on the false promise of marriage and cheating her, has been acquitted by a Delhi court as the alleged victim deposed that the physical relations between them were consensual and she was now married to him.
Additional Sessions Judge Nivedita Anil Sharma freed the man, a resident of Ramesh Nagar in West Delhi, saying there was no material on record to suggest that the woman was ever raped, cheated and beaten by him or that he molested her.
"It is clear that the case of the prosecution is neither reliable nor believable and is not trustworthy and the prosecution has failed to establish the offences of rape, cheating, beating or outraging the modesty," the court said.

"The evidence of the woman makes it highly improbable that such an incident ever took place. In fact, she has deposed that she had physical relations with the accused with her free consent," it said.
The judge also referred to American musician Kurt Cobain who had said, "Rape is one of the most terrible crimes on earth and it happens every few minutes. The problem with groups who deal with rape is that they try to educate women about how to defend themselves. What really needs to be done is teaching men not to rape. Go to the source and start there."

According to the prosecution, the woman in her complaint had alleged that between January 2012 and September 2013, the man had raped her at various places, including a resort in Manesar, on the false promise of marriage.

She had alleged that he also cheated her by not disclosing his real name and also beat and molested her.
The woman, however, changed her statement before the court and deposed that she had met the man two years ago through a social networking site, developed friendship and established physical relations with her consent.
The accused had promised to marry her and the marriage took place on June 8, the woman told the court and also showed the marriage certificate.

She said she had no grievance against the man as he has not committed any offence and prayed that he be acquitted and that she had made the complaint under the wrong advice of some well wishers.