A man has been acquitted of the charge of raping his live-in partner by a Delhi court which said they were residing as husband and wife and it was beyond imagination that he had any reason to rape her.
The court freed the man, a resident of Dwarka in south- west Delhi, saying it was evident from the record that physical relations between him and the woman were consensual and the complainant had called police when the accused refused to marry her.
"The evidence on record, thus, establishes the fact that the prosecutrix and accused were staying together in a live-in relationship for a long time before registration of FIR. Hence it is highly improbable and beyond imagination that the accused had any reason or occasion to rape her on June 14, 2014," Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat said.
The court added that statement of accused that a quarrel took place between the two as the woman started pressurizing him to marry her and called police, seemed to be "probable and believable".
The judge said it was not the prosecution case that the accused had been sexually exploiting the woman on the false pretext of marriage.
"It is also evident from the evidence on record that the prosecutrix herself is a married lady and therefore, knew that her marriage with the accused is not legally permissible," the court said.
According to the prosecution, the man had raped the woman on June 14 last year in her house in Dwarka's Madhu Vihar area. She called police and lodged a case against him.
The court noted that the woman and her daughter had earlier also lodged several complaints of molestation and rape against the man and he has been acquitted in some of these cases.
The court noted that investigating officer had recorded the statements of various landladies in whose houses the man and the woman had resided on rent.
From their statements, it came out that the accused and the woman were staying together in a live-in relationship and were behaving like husband and wife, it noted.
The court while acquitting the man said the testimony of the woman does not appear to be credible or trustworthy and her version does not inspire its confidence.
During the trial, the man had claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case and said physical relations betweeen them were consensual.
