A Delhi court has acquitted two men of the charge of rape after the victim refuted the allegation and said it could not be swayed by emotions or the media.
Additional Sessions Judge Nivedita Anil Sharma let off Assam-based Gulbahar Ali and Delhi-based Sayed Ali, of the charges of raping the alleged victim under section 376 of IPC.
The court also acquitted both the accused persons of the charges of entering into a conspiracy to sell the woman.
In its order, the court noted that during trial, the woman sought acquittal of both the accused persons while submitting that she was now married to Gulbahar Ali who had brought her to Delhi from Assam.
"Today there is a public outrage and a hue and cry is being raised everywhere that courts are not convicting the rape accused. However, no man, accused of rape, can be convicted if the witnesses do not support the prosecution case or give quality evidence, as in the present case where the prosecutrix (alleged victim) is hostile...
"It should not be ignored that the court has to confine itself to the ambit of law and the contents of the file as well as the testimonies of the witnesses and is not to be swayed by emotions or reporting in the media," the court said.
According to police, Gulbahar Ali had established physical relations with the woman at Guwahati, Assam, on a promise to marry her and asked her to come to Delhi for job.
When she came here, Gulbahar and co-accused Sayed Ali allegedly raped her and later tried to sell her with the help of a woman who was declared a proclaimed offender in the case.
Besides rape, the police had charged both accused for offence committed under sections including 342 (wrongfully confining a person), 370 (buying or disposing any person as a slave), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code.
