Clean chit to ex-cop serving life for rape

A constable with the Delhi police, sentenced to life for rape, got relief on Tuesday with the Delhi High Court acquitting him, reports Harish V Nair.

A constable with the Delhi police, sentenced to life for rape, got relief on Tuesday with the Delhi High Court acquitting him.

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A lower court had in November 2007 handed down the rare maximum sentence to Virender Singh on the grounds he was a policeman.

But after perusing the evidence while dealing with Singh's appeal, the court found out that the two knew each other, that it was a consensual act and the woman had “trapped” Singh.

Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Suresh Kait found that the woman had a problem with her husband and Singh, who was a beat constable, had been helping her in pursuing the case.

“It is apparent that the appellant and the prosecutrix were known to each other. It is apparent that the woman was using the services of the appellant to further her interest in the criminal prosecution which she had launched against her husband and in return, the appellant was using the youth of the prosecutrix,” said the Bench.

“It is apparent that the two were more than friendly. If at all they had sex, as claimed by the prosecutrix, it has to be by consent,” it said.

The court came to this conclusion after a study of the record of calls between them and their frequency proved they were in regular touch before the “incident”.

Trial judge slammed
Criticising the trial court judge for handling the evidence in a “clumsy manner”, the Bench said he had dealt with the case like a “child’s play”.

The HC said if the police wanted to take any action against Singh, he might be proceeded against for having intimate relations with a woman in distress and misusing his position.