A man has been acquitted of the offence of sexually harassing his aunt for several years, with a Delhi court saying it was difficult to believe that the woman, who was a teacher, would suffer at the hands of her nephew.
Additional Sessions Judge Smita Garg, while absolving the man of the offence under section 354A (sexual harassment) of the IPC, said the allegations levelled by the woman against him were "vague".
"Such general and vague allegations made by the complainant relating to the offence were not sufficient to frame charge against the respondent (man).
"Even otherwise, it is a matter of record that the complainant is a teacher by profession. It is difficult to ram down the throat that she would have continued to suffer at the hands of the respondent for years together, as alleged by her," the judge said.
The court also noted that the statements of the complainant and her husband showed that the complaint had been lodged against her nephew, as his mother had got an FIR registered against her husband in a property dispute case.
According to the complaint lodged by the woman in 2013, she was being sexually harassed and threatened by the accused for so many years in their shared household in west Delhi.
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Earlier, a magisterial court had discharged the man of the offence, saying there were no sufficient reasons to proceed against him.
The complainant, through the police, had challenged this order but the sessions court had upheld the trial court's order.
The man, in his defence, claimed he was falsely implicated and the FIR against him was in retaliation to the complaint lodged against her husband by his mother in the property dispute.