Apex court acquits man of rape charge

Noting that the victim had allowed herself to be “deflowered” and there was no sufficient evidence to prove that she was a minor, the Supreme Court has acquitted a man convicted for raping the girl.

Noting that the victim had allowed herself to be “deflowered” and there was no sufficient evidence to prove that she was a minor, the Supreme Court has acquitted a man convicted for raping the girl.

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While acquitting Sunil of the charge, the apex court said the victim’s father Bishan was unable to specify her age and the prosecution also failed to conduct the ossification and radiology tests as suggested by Dr Sadhna Verma, who had initially examined the victim.

“It is clearly borne out from the evidence on record that the appellant (Sunil) belonged to the same caste and gotra (sub-caste) of the prosecutrix and a frequent visitor to her house.

“There was a love affair between them and the (high) court also observed that she did not ever resist her being repeatedly deflowered by the appellant Sunil,” the judgment said. A bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and A.K. Patnaik gave the verdict while setting aside the conviction imposed on Sunil by a Chandigarh sessions court and upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Sunil had moved the SC citing a number of discrepancies in the prosecution’s version.