New Delhi: A man, who was accused of raping a 22-year-old woman on the false pretext of marraige, has been acquitted by a Delhi court which said there was no evidence of he assuring her to tie the nuptial knot.
The court said there was evidence that the man and the woman were in love and she was not of such a tender age to get carried away by any "sweet talk" of the accused.
"There is no evidence on record to suggest that the accused had made any promise to the prosecutrix (woman) to marry her and he never intended to fulfill such promise right since the beginning," Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat said, while acquitting the man, a resident of Uttam Nagar here.
The court rejected the contention of the prosecutor that the woman did not report the matter to thepolice and did not narrate the incident to anybody as she believed that the accused would marry her.
"The argument is, in my opinion, sans any force. No such thing had happened on that occasion which could have instilled belief in the mind of prosecutrix that accused is going to marry her only," the judge said.
According to the prosecution, the woman lodged a complaint at Uttam Nagar Police Station in September last year, saying that she and the man were working in the same company and they were known to each other.
She alleged that in May 2011, the man took her to his house on the pretext of some work and gave her sedative-laced tea after which she became unconscious. When she regained consciousness, she found that she was raped by the man, she alleged.
Thereafter, he had been having sexual relations with her on the pretext of marriage and forcing her to engage in unnatural sex, she alleged, adding that, when she and her parents went to his house to talk about their marriage, the accused' parents opposed it.
She said she lodged a police complaint when the man refused to marry her and also threatened to kill her.
During the trial, the accused denied the prosecution case and claimed that he has been falsely implicated.
The court, in its judgement, said that the conduct of the woman immediately after the incident of rape did not indicate that she had been raped.
"There is nothing on record to show that the accused had assured her fully or promised the prosecutrix that he would marry her in any event.
"Merely uttering the words, 'I would marry you' cannot be construed to convey any unconditional 'commitment' or 'guarantee' to marry. These four words alone did not mean and convey that the speaker is serious about what he is saying and would not go back on his words," the court said.
It also said that the woman was 22-years-old at that time and was doing a job, and was thus mature enough to understand the implications of what the accused was telling her.
