A student of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) was allegedly raped by a man following a false assurance of marriage in north Delhi's Wazirabad area
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A student of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) was allegedly raped by a man following a false assurance of marriage in north Delhi's Wazirabad area, police said on Thursday.
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According to police, the complainant, a resident of the JNU campus in south Delhi, said she met the accused through an organisation around four years ago.
"They became friends. On April 3, she was at the flat of the accused in Wazirabad. Suddenly he came near her assuring her that he will marry her and made physical relations. Now the accused is refusing to marry the complainant," Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.
"A case under section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered at the Wazirabad police station and further probe initiated," the officer added. PTI BM
Meanwhile, Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld the acquittal of a man accused of forcibly keeping a "minor" girl in his house and repeatedly raping her on the ground of conflicting testimony.
The court said while the testimony of a survivor alone is sufficient to establish guilt, overall circumstances have to be considered to arrive at a "just decision" and dismissed an appeal by the state against the trial court order acquitting the man.
The court said prosecution not only failed to bring on record the exact age of the girl but also could not prove that the accused had forcibly made physical relations with her.
Noting that the survivor had even visited the accused's native village claiming to be his wife and did not raise alarm on earlier occasions, HC remarked that "the behaviour of prosecutrix speaks a volume about her conduct" and a case of "false accusation" cannot be ruled out.
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"The survivor has deposed that the accused had made relations thrice with her in a park and also stated that there were public persons in the park but she neither raised any alarm nor any public person noticed it, which is highly unbelievable," HC said, adding it also seems she willingly continued living in the accused's house for 27 days.
The accused was booked on the basis of an FIR registered for alleged commission of offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including rape, and the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso).
However, HC pointed out that the prosecution did not place on record any document to establish the correct age of the girl who first claimed that she was 17-year-old and then during her examination before the trial court said that she was 19 while her complainant brother claimed she was 12-year-old.
"There is no doubt to the legal position that testimony of the prosecutrix alone is sufficient to bring home the guilt of an accused for committing offence under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC, however, before arriving at a just decision, the Court also has to consider the overall facts and circumstances of the case," it observed.
"This court is of the opinion that the learned trial court has rightly held that the prosecution has failed to prove guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubts. Finding no error in the impugned judgment the present petition seeking leave to appeal is dismissed," it added. (With inputs from agencies)
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