False Gang Rape Case: Court Acquits Accused, Orders FIR Against Complainant Daughter in Law [Read Judgment]

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has acquitted a man and his daughter of charges of gang rape levelled by his own daughter in law and directed the police to lodge an FIR against the complainant and her advocate father for making false allegations.

Additional Sessions Judge, Tis Hazari court Aanchal set free Rajender Gupta and his daughter Astha and son Vipul in the case registered in 2014 after extensively going through the evidences of those related to call details records and statements of witnesses.

The court said the prosecution has miserably failed to prove the commission of offences. In fact, the case was solely lying upon the complaint initiated by the alleged victim's father, a practicing advocate, which was found as completely false and framed.

"Rape is a heinous crime which is required to be dealt strictly but simultaneously false allegation qua the rape are also required to be dealt firmly since these allegations cause huge humiliation to the accused and have potential to isolate the concerned including his family and near- ones, from society," it said.

In the present case, the allegations were leveled that father committed rape with the aid, assistance and in the presence of her daughter. In Indian society, a distance more specifically in respect of sex is maintained between father and daughter as a mark of respect to the extent that they do not talk about the same with each other, the court said.

"Unfortunately, with the allegations leveled herein, prosecutrix and her father had assaulted this relation as well. The entire system worked believing the prosecutrix the most and valuing her statement at par that of injured witness but prosecutrix and her father seem to have exploited even the liberal interpretation and evaluation of evidence. There conduct seems to be deliberate as the father of the prosecutrix had been a practicing advocate and the prosecutrix had herself graduate in law. With this background, this court realises itself to be under obligation to stand for one who are comparatively less acquainted with the provisions and statute and have to face the allegations for long more than 08 years," the court said.

In the present case, the court said it also found that the first complaint initiated by the father of the prosecutrix who is admittedly an advocate, presented the distorted and imaginary facts to make the accused persons, more specifically the husband and father of law of the prosecutrix, to agree to the term that prosecutrix and her husband would live separately.

In fact all the articles of the prosecutrix were taken by her and thereafter, when further matrimonial discord arose, the prosecutrix herself owned the false facts and maintained this falsehood for many years and even on the date of her appearance in the Court as witness and ultimately she deposed falsely, it added.

"By the time, prosecutrix entered into the witness box, she had graduated in law (as admitted by her in cross examination dated 03.08.2016). But despite this, the prosecutrix and her father who himself has been an advocate by profession, showing scant regard to the sanctity of oath and their duty to depose truth and the truth only, kept on making stories to make the Court to believe the same as true.

"Their act is not what could be called simpliciter exaggeration but the same is what which definitely falls within the purview of an illegal act and is an offence of making false charge of offence punishable with imprisonment extending to life. Therefore, this Court is of the view that stem action against them is required," the court said, while directing of lodging of the FIR for false prosecution.

[Read Judgment]