Tis Hazari Court of Delhi has acquitted Manjeet Kharb of all charges in a case of rape and criminal intimidation. The court said that the prosecution failed to prove the allegations through solid and credible evidence. The court of Additional Sessions Judge Vishal Pahuja said in its judgment that there were many serious contradictions and ambiguities in the testimony of the complainant, on the basis of which conviction is not possible. The court made it clear that no one can be convicted on the basis of allegations alone.
This case was registered in Paschim Vihar West police station on the basis of a complaint in the year 2020. The complainant had claimed that he had befriended Manjeet Kharb through Facebook in March 2019, after which the crime allegedly took place. Considering all the aspects, the court acquitted the accused by giving him the benefit of doubt.
According to the prosecution, the complainant had alleged that in May 2019, accused Manjeet took her in a car from Peeragadhi to a flat in Mukherjee Nagar, where he forcibly had physical relations with her for the first time. The woman alleged that after this, relations were established several times with the false promise of marriage. The woman also claimed that she had become pregnant and after getting information about it, the accused forcibly gave her abortion pills. Further, the complainant alleged that the accused raped her multiple times on different dates after threatening to make the obscene photos viral. However, the court said that the evidence presented in support of these allegations and the statements of the witnesses did not match with each other. Medical, documentary and circumstantial evidence also could not corroborate the prosecution’s claim.
Advocates Aditi Singh and Ravi Daral, appearing for the defence, told the court that the accused Manjeet was already married and had two children, about which the complainant was aware from the beginning. In such a situation, the allegation of consent on the false promise of marriage does not stand. The advocates also argued that the complainant lodged the FIR about ten months after the incident, but no satisfactory reason was given for this delay. The defense side said that the case pertains to a dispute related to money transactions and a rape case was registered with the aim of putting pressure on the accused.
The court, while making a holistic assessment of the defense arguments, testimony of the complainant and the evidence on record, found that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt, thereby acquitting the accused.
The court clarified that if a woman is already aware of the marital status of the accused, then in such a situation the consent given on the basis of a false promise of marriage cannot be considered as consent given under illusion. Citing several important decisions of the Supreme Court in this context, the court said that giving benefit of doubt to the accused even in serious cases like rape is the basic principle of the criminal justice system. The court also said in its judgment that no concrete medical evidence was produced on record to support the allegations of alleged pregnancy and forced abortion. At the same time, the allegations related to the threat of making obscene pictures viral could not be confirmed in the forensic investigation.
Additionally, the claims of hotel stay, forced sexual intercourse and threats were also found to be lacking in independent witnesses and documentary evidence. According to the court, in these circumstances the prosecution’s story could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt, due to which the accused was acquitted.
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