Delhi High Court: A Division Bench of Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, JJ. dismissed of an appeal filed against the judgment of the trial court whereby the respondent, accused of raping the appellant-prosecutrix, was acquitted.
The case of the prosecutrix was that the accused established physical relations with her under the false pretext of marriage and that they were living together for about five years before the complaint was lodged by the prosecutrix under Section 376(2)(n) and 313 read with 506 Penal Code, 1860.
The High Court, at the outset, reiterated the settled legal position that the onus is on the prosecution to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Relying on Pramod Suryabhan Pawar v. State of Maharashtra, 2019 SCC OnLine SC 1073, it was noted that the false promise should have had a direct nexus to the prosecutrix decision to engage in the sexual act. It was noted that the prosecutrix was already married to someone else and had six children from the wedlock. The Court was of the view that it was imperative for the prosecution to prove that prosecutrix was divorced from her first husband and was eligible for re-marriage. It was asserted by the prosecutrix she was given triple talaq orally in the presence of her parents and in-laws. However, the factum of the divorce was not substantiated by any proof, not even the evidence of prosecutrix parents and in-laws for proving the divorce was adduced. The Court was of the opinion that the prosecutrix failed to prove that she was eligible for re-marriage.
Further, the prosecutrix’s allegation that the accused neither married her nor allowed anybody else to marry her, did not inspire confidence since neither the 2015 marriage proposal had been proved nor the alleged obscene photos and videos shown by the accused to the prospective groom had been placed on record.
The High Court is in agreement with the finding of the trial court that the prosecutrix’ conduct of voluntary meeting the accused in Rohini Jail three times after filing of the present complaint lend credence to the accused’ defence that the real intent behind the present proceeding was to force him to marry the prosecutrix.
It was held that the testimony of the prosecutrix, read in its entirety, was neither credible nor believable or trustworthy. Therefore the appeal was found without merit and was dismissed. [“X” v. State, 2019 SCC OnLine Del 10822, decided on 22-10-2019]
