Two youth, convicted of raping a 40-year-old woman, were recently acquitted by the Bombay high court.
The prosecution failed to prove its case against the accused and the court observed that the victim's conduct was highly doubtful.
Justice ML Tahaliyani of the Nagpur bench acquitted Vinod Malkhede, 24, and Santosh Vairgade, 28, who were convicted by the sessions court in 2010.
“A woman subjected to such a serious offence would have reached home and told her husband about it. Her conduct is highly doubtful as she had not even bothered to inform her husband about it,” observed the court.
On May 10, 2010, the woman from Lakkadkot village had gone to another village to sell vegetables. She was at the bus stop waiting for a bus to return to her village. The two youth came on a motorcycle and offered to drop her home. The woman accompanied them. Santosh stopped the bike near a tiles factory at Tulana. The two allegedly raped her on the factory premises, dumped her there and fled, taking away her clothes. The woman sought shelter in a nearby hut. She reached home the next day and lodged a police complaint.
During the trial, the prosecution examined nine witnesses to prove the case against the accused. The trial court convicted the two and charged them with rape. The two convicts challenged the order in the high court.
The court concluded that: “If at all the appellants indulged in a sexual intercourse, it was not in the manner stated by the victim. It could be by consent. The first information report might have been lodged with the police due to some other reasons.”
The court quashed and set aside the conviction order and directed the authorities to release the two accused.
