Rajesh Pandey
The Allahabad High Court has upheld the acquittal of four men in connection with an alleged rape case dating back to the year 2009, as it concurred with the view of the trial court that the victim appeared to be a consenting party.
A division bench comprising Justice Rajiv Gupta and Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra in its judgement dated September 13 noted that it is a settled principle that while exercising appellate powers, even if two reasonable views/conclusions are possible on the basis of the evidence on record, the appellate court should not disturb the finding of acquittal recorded by the trial court.
In view of this, upon perusing the depositions of prosecution witnesses, documents proved during trial, arguments advanced by counsel for the parties, and meticulous examination of the trial court’s judgment, the court found no good ground to grant leave to appeal in the instant case, which accordingly is refused.
Consequently, the government appeal challenging the acquittal was dismissed at the stage of admission itself.
As per the facts of the case, on April 22, 2009, the complainant Munna Lal filed a complaint at a police station in Kanpur Dehat stating that his minor daughter was abducted on April 7, 2009, by accused Balwan Singh and Akhilesh.
Following a search by the police, the victim was finally recovered on May 3, 2009, along with the accused, Balwan Singh, near a railway station. Accused Balwan was taken into custody, and the victim was sent for a medical examination.
The medical examination revealed no injuries; however, the victim’s hymen was found torn, and she came out to be over 18 years old based on radiological assessment. In the opinion of the lady doctor, the victim was found to be used to sexual intercourse, and no definite opinion about rape was given.
The charges were framed against accused-appellants – Balwan Singh, Akhilesh, Siya Ram, and Vimal Chandra Tiwari under section 376 (rape) and 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her marriage) of IPC.
In its judgment acquitting the accused, the trial court found, based on the evidence adduced before it, that the victim, a major, had left her home willingly with the accused. Despite getting opportunities to seek help, she made no effort to alert anyone or raise the alarm about her alleged abduction, and this proved that she had voluntarily accompanied the accused.
Therefore, it was discerned that she was neither taken by the accused against her will nor was subjected to sexual intercourse against her will, and hence, the accused were acquitted of the charges.
Challenging their acquittal, the state government moved the high court on the grounds that the trial court had misread the evidence adduced during trial as both the witnesses of facts, the PW1 (informant/complainant), the father of the victim and PW2 (victim) had fully proved the guilt of the accused respondents.
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