A man accused of raping the wife of his employee was acquitted by a Delhi court on the ground that the woman turned "hostile" during trial.
Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat ordered release of the Haryana resident from jail immediately.
The charges were levelled by the woman's husband, who was working as a gardener at the residence of the accused.
"These two witnesses (the woman and her husband) were the star witnesses for the prosecution. They have not supported the case of the prosecution and have not deposed anything incriminating against the accused. Both of them have given a clean chit to the accused," the court said.
The judge acquitted the accused of charges at the stage of recording of the statements of the woman and her husband, who had resiled from their complaint and said that they have lodged the case after the accused refused to give money for the man's labour work.
The accused was arrested by the police in February 2013, after the victim's husband had lodged a complaint that his wife was raped by the accused.
The couple said the accused on the day of incident took her to his room on the excuse of stitching curtains and raped her.
"While engaging the victim in talk, the accused bolted the door of the room from inside and raped her. She resisted the accused' attempt but could not stop the sinister act," the police had told the court during the trial.
"Both of them did not support the case of the prosecution in entirety and turned hostile," the judge said after recording the statements of the woman and her husband.
