The court said facts of the case showed that the woman wanted to marry her husband's younger brother after the death of her spouse, but when the accused refused to tie the knot with her, she lodged the complaint against him.
"It is gathered from the facts and circumstances that the woman wanted to marry the accused after the death of her husband but somehow the accused was not willing. It made the woman annoyed and she lodged the complaint," Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain said, while acquitting the man, a resident of Govind Puri in south Delhi.
"I am of the view that this case is not free from suspicion. It would be highly unsafe to base the conviction of the accused on the basis of evidence and material available on record. I, therefore, acquit the accused of the offence punishable under section 376 IPC giving him benefit of doubt," the judge said.
According to the prosecution, the woman lodged a complaint at Govind Puri Police Station against the man in June 2014, alleging that her brother-in-law had raped her when nobody was at home. She alleged that when she told her mother -in-law about the incident, she fought with her and threatened to throw her out of the matrimonial house.
The court, in its judgment, said the inconsistencies, improvements and contradictions coming in the woman's testimony go to the root of the case and her deposition cannot be said to be of sterling quality. No implicit reliance can be placed on her, it said.