A Delhi court has granted a doctor the liberty to sue a nursing student for damages on account of frame up after acquitting him of the charge of raping her.
Additional Sessions Judge Nivedita Anil Sharma said, "His plight may also continue after his acquittal as his implication may have caused an uproar in society but his acquittal may not even be noticed."
"It cannot be ignored that the accused, who is a doctor, due to this case which has ultimately ended in his acquittal, has suffered humiliation, distress and misery besides the expenses of the litigation," the court said.
The judge said that the doctor would continue to suffer the stigma of being a rape case accused and "it may not be possible to restore his dignity and honour nor compensate him for the humiliation, misery, distress and monetary loss".
According to the court, "However, his acquittal may give him some solace. He may also file any case for damages against the prosecutrix."
The alleged victim, a nursing student at a prestigious medical college and hospital here, in an FIR lodged against the doctor had claimed that he has raped her from 2012 to 2014 on the pretext of marriage due to which she became pregnant and he had forced her to undergo abortion.
However, during her cross examination, she resiled from her earlier statement and confessed that the physical relation between them was consensual and he had never caused abortion.
"Therefore, the conscience of this court is completely satisfied that the prosecution has failed to bring home the charge against the accused doctor for the offence under section 376 (rape) read with section 417 (cheating) and section 313 (causing miscarriage) of the IPC," the judge said.
The court further said that the evidences makes it highly improbable that such an incident ever took place.
"She has categorically deposed that she had physical relations with the accused with her free consent. She has even prayed for his acquittal," it said.
The court said that since the prosecutrix has herself claimed that the accused is innocent and has not committed any offence, "no useful purpose would be served by adopting any hyper technical approach in the issue."
The alleged victim had also confessed during trial that she lodged the case on the advice of some well wishers after the accused doctor has fight with her over some trivial matter and stopped talking to her.
