SC clears man held for rape after 4-yr live-in

SC clears man held for rape after 4-yr live-in

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:29.09.2020

No woman, after being sexually assaulted at knife-point, would write amorous love letters to the accused and share a live-in relationship for four years, the Supreme Court said on Monday while acquitting a man of 20-year-old charges of rape and cheating, for which he was convicted by the trial court and the Jharkhand High Court.

The first point of doubt for the bench of Justices R F Nariman, Navin Sinha and Indira Banerjee was the woman’s version of her age at the time of the alleged sexual assault in 1995.

Though she claimed to be 13 years, it was found that at the time of lodging the FIR in 1999, before the man was getting married she was 25 years old.

‘Lived like husband-wife’ but later filed rape case

Though she claimed to be 13 years, it was found that at the time of lodging the FIR in 1999, a few days before the man was getting married to another woman, she was 25 years as per medical opinion.

The complainant claimed that she kept quiet for four years from the date of sexual assault as the man promised to marry her and their families had got them engaged. She also said they lived like “husband and wife” and that on coming to know that he was getting married to another woman, she had filed the FIR accusing him of rape and cheating.

The bench sifted through the evidence and found the two belonged to different religions and that was the main constraint for solemnising the marriage — while the girl’s family wanted the wedding in a church, the boy’s family insisted on a temple ceremony.

Writing the judgment, Justice Sinha said, “The man belonged to the Scheduled Tribe while the woman belonged to the Christian community. They professed different religious beliefs in a traditional society. They resided in the same village Basjadi and were known to each other. The nature and manner of allegations, coupled with the letters exchanged between them, make it apparent that their love for each other grew and matured over a sufficient period of time.

“They were both smitten by each other and passions of youth ruled over their minds and emotions. The physical relations that followed were not isolated or sporadic in nature, but regular over the years. The woman had even gone and resided in the man’s house. In our opinion, the delay of four years in lodging the FIR, at an opportune time of seven days prior to the man solemnising his marriage with another girl, on the pretext of a promise to the prosecutrix raises serious doubts about the truth and veracity of the allegations levelled by the complainant.”

The bench further said, “She was conscious of this (religious) obstacle all along, even while she continued to establish physical relations with the man. If he had married her, she would not have lodged the case. She denied having written any letters to him, contrary to the evidence placed on record by the defence. The amorous language used by both in the letters exchanged reflects that the man was serious about the relationship...”