Three youth acquitted in rape case

Three youth, accused of raping a married woman after serving her sedative-laced drink, have been acquitted by a Delhi court when the alleged victim retracted from her charge and said they have not raped her.
The court also rejected the plea of the prosecution that it should consider the DNA report while deciding the case even if the woman retracted from her complaint against the three.
"I feel that the DNA report would not lead this court anywhere in view of the clearcut recorded deposition of the prosecutrix (woman) in which she has categorically exculpated all the three accused.
"Since the woman has clearly deposed that the accused had not come to her residence on that day and that she had taken the names of the accused at the instance of police officials only in her statements recorded during the investigation, the accused cannot be convicted on the basis of DNA report even if it comes against them," Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat said.

"It is, therefore, seen that as per the version of the woman, accused are innocent and have been falsely implicated in this case. She has specifically deposed in her testimony that accused have not committed rape upon her," it added.
The trio, residents of Delhi, were arrested on the complaint lodged by the woman who had alleged one of the accused in July 2013 had come to her flat with his two associates to request her to give evidence in another case, in which one man was stabbed, to which she was an eyewitness.

The police said the woman had refused to depose in that case but as a courtesy asked them to sit and offered cold drink.

It said when the woman went to another room, the accused mixed sedatives in her glass and after drinking it she felt giddy and was raped by the three men.
During her deposition in the court, the woman, however, retracted from her earlier statement and also failed to identify them.