Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Suresh Chand Rajan freed 20-year-old Dheeraj Dalal saying the woman never appeared in court during the proceeding, after making her statement before a magistrate and "therefore her testimony cannot be taken into consideration as an evidence against the accused".
"In view of non-production of prosecutrix for her further cross-examination, her statement cannot be read and therefore there is no substantive evidence against accused in this case.
"From the foregoing facts and circumstances of the case and the reasons given above, I give the benefit of doubt to accused Dheeraj and acquit him of the charges levelled against him," ASJ Rajan said.
Dheeraj and three of his alleged accomplices were arrested in September 2010 on a complaint by the woman that the four of them had gang-raped her in a flat, where she had been working as a maid since 2008.
The prosecution said when the woman was alone at the house, one of the accused rang the door bell and the moment she opened the door, all the accused person caught hold of her and took her inside the room and raped her at knife point.
Dheeraj was sole accused who was tried by the sessions court as the other three were juveniles and their cases were referred to the Juvenile Justice Board here, the prosecution said.
Acquitting Dheeraj, the court also noted that the woman could not be traced by the police even at her native village.