Man acquitted of rape charge after woman withdraws complaint | Mumbai News

A 32-year-old man from Mumbra, accused of raping a 26-year-old woman during the lockdown in April 2020, was acquitted after the complainant reacted hostilely in court.


The acquittal was recently passed by Additional Sessions Judge AS Bhagwat.

According to the charge sheet, the accused raped the complainant against her will on April 17, 2020, and later sexually harassed her again. He was also accused of intimidating her and had later warned her not to report it to the police. The complaint also alleged that the accused had shot objectionable videos of her and physically assaulted her from time to time. He even threatened her son, the complaint said. This happened during the lockdown due to the Covid pandemic. Subsequently, the case was registered at Mumbra police station under 12 sections of the Indian Penal Code, including harassment, rape, criminal solicitation and cheating, etc. He was also charged under the National Disaster Management Act 1995 and the Maharashtra Covid-19 Act 2020.

The Mumbra police conducted the necessary panchnama proceedings and subsequent investigation and later also filed the chargesheet in the court. The accused pleaded not guilty during the trial. However, things turned in the accused’s favour when the complainant told the court during the trial that she had filed the complaint in a fit of anger following a personal dispute with the accused. She clarified that she had no more complaints against him and admitted to having an affair with him. She stated that he never forced himself on her and neither intimidated her son nor threatened her at any point of time.

After acquitting the accused, the judge pointed out that the plaintiff had not supported the prosecution and therefore there was no evidence against the accused. He had been given the benefit of the doubt and should therefore be acquitted.