Delhi court acquits man of cheating, raping woman

New Delhi:  A Delhi court has acquitted a man of the charge of raping and deceitfully marrying a woman he met through a matrimonial website after she failed to support the prosecution case.

Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain absolved the man of the charges of rape, unnatural sex and concealing his first marriage, observing that the complainant did not want to pursue the matter or want any action against him as they had reached a settlement. “In the instant case, the star witnesses were the prosecutrix and her father. They did not support prosecution case in any manner. They did not say anything incriminating against the accused,” the judge said.

According to the prosecution, the woman and her father had lodged a complaint on June 7 alleging that the accused, whom she had met through a matrimonial website, deceitfully married her by claiming he was divorced and forcefully established physical relations with her. It alleged that the man forced the woman, who had left her job in Dubai and returned to India to marry the accused, for unnatural sex at a hotel here.

She married him at a temple here but later found out that he was not divorced and lodged the complaint against him, it said. The court, however, noted that her testimony revealed that they neither had any sexual relation before or after the marriage nor did she live with the accused. “She has stated that she has settled the matter and she does not want any action against the accused,” it said.

An FIR was lodged against the accused for the offences under sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural sex) and 493 (cohabitation by a man deceitfully inducing a belief of lawful marriage) of the IPC. The man’s statement was dispensed with as there was no incriminating evidence against him.