The Delhi High Court on Monday set aside the conviction of Mahmood Farooqui, co-director of film Peepli live, and set him free in a rape case involving a US researcher, saying he was entitled to benefit of doubt as the testimony of the victim was not reliable.
Justice Ashutosh Kumar set aside the trial court order which had awarded a seven-year jail term to Farooqui after convicting him for the alleged rape of a 30-year-old American researcher at his South Delhi residence in March 2015.
The High Court, in its 85-page judgment, directed that Farooqui, who is presently in jail, be released forthwith. It held that the woman’s testimony was not reliable and the accused can be given the benefit of doubt. “Whether such an incident happened, if it has happened, it did happen with the consent of the prosecutrix. This remains in doubt,” the court said. Farooqui had challenged his conviction and the sentence given by the trial court.
