A city court has acquitted a man facing trial for allegedly raping and threatening to kill a married woman after the complainant turned hostile indicating that physical relations between them were consensual. A resident of West Delhi, Nazir was set free of the offences under various provisions of IPC including rape, abduction of a woman to compel her for marriage and criminal intimidation by Additional Sessions Judge Nivedita Anil Sharma.
“There is no material on record to suggest that the prosecutrix (woman) was ever raped, abducted, beaten or threatened by accused Nazir. No case is made out against the accused as there is no incriminating evidence against him. Consequently, he is hereby acquitted,” the judge said, adding that the woman’s deposition “cannot be treated as trustworthy and reliable”. While acquitting Nazir, the court said there was not an iota of evidence in the woman’s deposition that she was raped.
“The prosecutrix (woman), who is the star witness, has turned hostile and has not supported the prosecution case and more importantly has not assigned any criminal role to Nazir. The court’s precious time should not be wasted in recording the evidence of formal or official witnesses when the woman and her husband, the material witnesses, have not supported the prosecution case,” the judge said.
According to the prosecution, the woman, who is married and has children, had lodged a complaint that she was abducted, beaten and raped by Nazir last August after which he threatened to kill her.