A youth, who was accused of raping a 19-year-old girl on the pretext of marrying her and abetting her suicide, has been acquitted by a Delhi court which pulled up the investigating officer for negligent approach in probing the case.
The court said the case rested mainly on the third dying declaration of the victim but its genuineness and veracity have not been proved by the prosecution due to the negligence and failure of the investigating officer.
"When the dying declaration of the prosecutrix has not been proved by the prosecution, the reason for her suicide i.E. Rape by accused also remains unproved....
"The role of the accused in the suicide of the prosecutrix has not been proved by the prosecution," Additional Sessions Judge Nivedita Anil Sharma said.
The court acquitted Uttar Pradesh resident Venktanjaneya Partap Singh, saying no inference can be drawn that he was guilty of the charged offences as the testimony of the prosecution witnesses was unreliable and unworthy of credence.
According to the prosecution, sometime during the period of four years prior to February 23, 2011, Singh had raped the victim at his house in Rajouri Garden here.
Singh and the girl were working in the same office and he established physical relations with her on the pretext of marrying her, it said, adding that later on the girl came to know that the youth was getting married to someone else.
When she confronted him, he first denied but later on accepted that he was getting married to someone else and instigated and abetted her to commit suicide, it said.
She attempted suicide first by drinking acid and then pouring petrol on her and setting herself on fire in her house. She died on March 3, 2011.
