Additional Sessions Judge Rajneesh Kumar Gupta let off Delhi residents Arjun, Ravi, Sunil and Naveen relying on the victim's statement and also on the medical report which did not link the four with the alleged rape.
"The prosecution witness (PW1) being the prosecutrix (girl), is the material witness of the case and she has not supported the case of the prosecution. There is also nothing in the forensic reports to link the accused persons with the alleged offence of rape"
"PW1 has turned hostile. Accordingly, the prosecution has failed to prove its case against all four," the court said.
The prosecution case dated back to November 2011, when the four were arrested on a complaint by the 17-year-old girl, alleging that they had raped her at a secluded place of the parking lot of Udyog Nagar metro station.
She had allegedly told police that on the fateful night, she had gone to Nangloi Market in West Delhi to buy some food when one of the accused, known to her, met her and asked her to join him at his birthday and took her to the parking lot.
"They both sat at the metro station parking area, where the other accused also arrived and had beer together. She lost her consciousness," the prosecution said, adding on waking up she found she had been gang-raped by the boys.
