5 cleared of rape charges

A Delhi court has acquitted five youths from a case of kidnapping and gang-raping a 25-year-old married woman as the victim failed to identify them and resiled from her initial statement.

A Delhi court has acquitted five youths from a case of kidnapping and gang-raping a 25-year-old married woman as the victim failed to identify them and resiled from her initial statement.

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Additional Sessions Judge Vijay Kumar Dahiya acquitted Delhi residents Raj Kumar, Rakesh, Rakesh Kumar, Rahul and Sandeep saying that the woman was a material witness of the case but has failed to utter even a single word against the accused.

The prosecution said that the incident took place on June 5, 2011 when the woman had come to her parental house to meet her father who had met an accident and to celebrate her younger sister's birthday.

On the fateful day, when she had gone out with her sister to celebrate her birthday at a nearby market, the five youthskidnapped both of them on knife point and drove them away in a car, it said.

The victim's sister, however, was let off as she was pregnant, while the woman was gang raped, the police said.