India
‘Girl didn’t want to go to hotel room…’: Court acquits accused in rape case | India News – Times of India
NEW DELHI: A convicted rapist has been acquitted by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, but the court said that no sane girl would go to a hostel room to meet an unknown boy for the first time as such a meeting in a private place would send an “alarming” message about the boy.
“A girl meeting a young boy for the first time would not go to a hotel room. Such behaviour on the part of a boy would clearly send alarming signals to the girl. In my view, the victim’s evidence about the incident is completely unbelievable,” said Judge Sanap according to Livelaw.
Justice Govind Sanapwho was presiding over the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, rejected the victim’s version of the rape case, who had claimed that she met the convict through Facebook before finally ending up in a hotel room.
“The victim did not know the defendant before they met at the hotel. It was their first meeting. She stated that at the defendant’s request, she accompanied the defendant to the hotel room. In my opinion, this behavior by the victim is not consistent with the behavior of a person of ordinary prudence who finds himself in a similar situation,” the judge was quoted as saying by Livelaw.
Judge Sanap further noted: “Even if the girl, on the basis of a promise, accompanies an unknown person to a room and if she gets into trouble, then she will definitely rebel. It is not the case of the victim that the hotel room was far away from the crowded part of the hotel. In my opinion, therefore, the incident in the hotel room seems unbelievable.”
The victim claimed she started chatting with the boy and exchanged phone numbers. He later visited her at the university where she was studying in February 2017. Months later, the boy invited her to a hotel room to talk about “an urgent” matter.
The duo had consensual sex, but – as the girl claimed – the boy took a number of indecent photos and uploaded them to Facebook. He also shared them with her relatives and family.
The court also noted that the girl and her father remained silent even after the photos were posted online in March 2017, as the case resumed only in October 2017.
Given the lack of evidence, the court acquitted a convicted person. The decision was based on an assessment of the material in the case file, in particular the medical evidence and the testimonies of the victim, her father and a few witnesses.
“A girl meeting a young boy for the first time would not go to a hotel room. Such behaviour on the part of a boy would clearly send alarming signals to the girl. In my view, the victim’s evidence about the incident is completely unbelievable,” said Judge Sanap according to Livelaw.
Justice Govind Sanapwho was presiding over the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, rejected the victim’s version of the rape case, who had claimed that she met the convict through Facebook before finally ending up in a hotel room.
“The victim did not know the defendant before they met at the hotel. It was their first meeting. She stated that at the defendant’s request, she accompanied the defendant to the hotel room. In my opinion, this behavior by the victim is not consistent with the behavior of a person of ordinary prudence who finds himself in a similar situation,” the judge was quoted as saying by Livelaw.
Judge Sanap further noted: “Even if the girl, on the basis of a promise, accompanies an unknown person to a room and if she gets into trouble, then she will definitely rebel. It is not the case of the victim that the hotel room was far away from the crowded part of the hotel. In my opinion, therefore, the incident in the hotel room seems unbelievable.”
The victim claimed she started chatting with the boy and exchanged phone numbers. He later visited her at the university where she was studying in February 2017. Months later, the boy invited her to a hotel room to talk about “an urgent” matter.
The duo had consensual sex, but – as the girl claimed – the boy took a number of indecent photos and uploaded them to Facebook. He also shared them with her relatives and family.
The court also noted that the girl and her father remained silent even after the photos were posted online in March 2017, as the case resumed only in October 2017.
Given the lack of evidence, the court acquitted a convicted person. The decision was based on an assessment of the material in the case file, in particular the medical evidence and the testimonies of the victim, her father and a few witnesses.
