A Delhi court has acquitted a former JNU student accused of raping a fellow student in 2016, giving him the benefit of the doubt. Assistant Sessions Judge Pawan Kumar was hearing a case registered at Vasant Kunj police station against the man, who was accused of raping the woman in a hostel room at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on the intervening night of August 20 and 21, 2016.
According to the prosecution, the accused and the victim were pursuing higher studies at JNU and they were residents of different hostels. The court is of the considered view that the benefit of the doubt goes in favour of the accused and therefore, the accused stands acquitted of the offences for which he has been facing the trial, ASJ Kumar said in a judgment passed on July 21.
The court observed that unfortunately the testimony of the prosecutrix failed to meet the test of the sterling quality and the reasons.
Noting the backdrop of the alleged incident that it occurred in the hostel room after midnight and continued till 2.30 am while the student union elections were scheduled the next month and all parties were about to declare their candidates, the court said some suspicion arose on the prosecutrix’s failure to explain why she had not raised alarm at the very first opportunity.
It said there were more doubts on the prosecution’s version that the prosecutrix escaped from the room when the accused went to the bathroom without bolting the room from outside.
The prosecutrix did not raise any alarm and seek help from any other resident of the hostel while she was running away from the room, the court said, adding that there is ”no explanation as to the fact that no resident heard the accused screaming while he was chasing the prosecutrix”. The court said her deposition was contradicted by an independent witness, the security guard.
The security guard denied the presence of the accused at the gate, who, as stated by the prosecutrix, came there while chasing her. There is no explanation as to why the accused left the prosecutrix all alone at the gate and returned back to his room for taking the key and she did not call the police even at the exit gate in the presence of the guard, it said.
The court said one of the person from whom the prosecutrix sought help was not examined and her statement in the Medico-Legal Case (MLC) about taking a bath and changing clothes in another hostel room was not corroborated. No explanation is forthcoming from the prosecution that no police call was made by the prosecutrix in the safe environment with her friends,” it said.
Also, the court said there was no medical evidence to corroborate her testimony and that no injuries were mentioned in the MLC. Noting a later report dated August 25 by a doctor mentioning injuries, the court said it was not free from doubts and appeared to be an afterthought.
There are no biological traces on the medical exhibits of the accused and the prosecutrix and the exhibits which were collected from the crime scene. The crime scene was not disturbed and the same is proved to be intact, the court said.
It said in a criminal trial, the onus remains on the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused beyond all reasonable doubts and the benefit of the doubt, if any, must necessarily go in favour of the accused.
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