Man freed of charge of raping divorcee on marriage pretext

, Nov 4: A man, accused of raping a divorced woman on the pretext of marrying her, has been acquitted by a Delhi court as the alleged victim resiled from her statement.

The court freed Delhi resident Manoj of the charges of raping and criminally intimidating the woman, a mother of two kids, after she said the man had never promised to marry her nor had he established physical relations with her forcibly.

"Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, where prosecutrix has not stated anything against the accused, it can safely be said that the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and, hence the accused is entitled to be acquitted of the charges framed against him. Thus, (he is) acquitted," Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna said.

After recording the statement of the woman, the court closed the evidence, saying there was no necessity of examining the remaining formal witnesses to complete a dead formality. "Since nothing incriminating had turned up against the accused, so his statement under section 313 CrPC was also dispensed with," it said.

According to the prosecution, after getting divorce from her husband, the woman came to Delhi in search of a job and started residing here. She got acquainted to Manoj and he told her that he would marry her, it had said. They become friends and later fell in love and started residing together at a rented accommodation, it had said, adding that earlier he promised to marry her but later she came to know about subsistence of his first marriage. The police said when she insisted him to marry her, he abused her and refused to marry her and also threatened to get her killed. The woman had to leave her job also, it had said.

The woman, however, changed her statement in the court, saying that she had established physical relations with the accused on her own accord and without any pressure. She said the accused never had physical relations with her forcibly and they lived together for a year.

In January this year, when Manoj went to his relative's place, she thought he would not return and on the advice of her relatives she filed the complaint, she told the court. She admitted that the accused never made any promise to marry her during her relationship with him.

PTI