While clearing Yogesh Shinde of the charges after he served five-year rigorous imprisonment for raping his neighbour's wife in Ulhasnagar in neighbouring Thane district, the court said it found "improbable" the prosecution charge and the version given by the victim.
Shinde had filed the appeal after he served the jail term handed down to him by a Kalyan sessions court. Since the appeal was admitted earlier, it was heard on merits and the high court acquitted him on "benefit of doubt".
According to prosecution, Shinde raped the woman at knife point behind her house on June 2, 1999 with the help of his friend. His friend was, however, acquitted by the trial court.
"Though, in ordinary circumstances, a woman is not likely to make a false allegation of rape, when she is caught or is suspected of having had sexual intercourse with someone outside the wedlock, she is quite likely to try to protect her character by claiming that what was done was without her consent," Justice A M Thipsay recently observed.
"Such a possibility is quite clear in the facts and circumstances of the present case where the victim's story when judged by ordinary yardstick, appears to be improbable," the judge noted while allowing the appeal filed by Shinde against his conviction by a sessions court in Kalyan.
"Thus, even if it is assumed that sexual intercourse had taken place between the appellant and the victim, as alleged by her, the possibility of victim being a consenting party to the act, cannot be overruled. Certainly, at least a doubt that sexual intercourse, if any, between the appellant and the victim, was consensual, arises upon a consideration of the entire evidence", he observed. (More)