Court Acquits four in Gangrape Case, Say Law Being Misused

Court Acquits four in Gangrape Case, Say Law Being Misused

Four members of a family have been acquitted of gangrape charge by a Delhi court which termed it as a classic illustration of misuse of rape laws in which the husband of alleged victim used her as a "pawn" to settle personal scores.

The court acquitted Delhi residents Sikander, his brother Shailender and their parents Harender Mehto and Sushila of the charges and stressed the need to remain "vigilant" in "differentiating" between false and genuine rape cases so that no innocent person is convicted.

"...I would like to put on record that this case is the classic illustration of misuse of the rape related laws. The husband of the prosecutrix, in order to settle scores with the accused, used her as an arrow or pawn and slapped an utterly false criminal case upon the accused," Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Virender Bhat said.

Sikander and his family members were facing trial in the case on the allegations levelled against them by a woman, one of their relatives, who had claimed that she was confined and gangraped by the two brothers who also tried to sell her. The woman had told the magistrate that she was beaten up mercilessly by the accused persons who told her that her father should pay Rs 5 lakh to them. She had also alleged that the brothers had taken her to Bahadurgarh in Haryana and repeatedly raped her. They then took her to a village in Chandigarh and tried to sell her.

During the trial in the case, however, the woman said she was fed up with the "torturous treatment and behaviour" of her in-laws and had left her house and started to live with her relatives, who were the accused in the case. Her father had also told the same to the court