Delhi High Court sets free 2 accused of raping colleague

New Delhi: The Delhi high court has set free two men of the charge of raping their colleague, saying there was “inconsistency” in the woman’s version about the incident.

Holding that the two convicts, who have been in custody since June 2009, “deserve the benefit of doubt”, Justice S.P. Garg directed their release from jail immediately.

“Nothing has come on record to show if during her employment in the factory for about a month, the appellants had an evil eye on her or had attempted any time to outrage her modesty. No complaint whatsoever was filed by the victim against any of the appellants any time. Considering the inconsistent and conflicting versions narrated by the prosecutrix (woman) at different stages of investigation, conviction and sentence of the appellants cannot be sustained in the absence of independent corroboration. The appellants deserve benefit of doubt,” the court said.

The court’s verdict comes on an appeal filed by the duo who had challenged their conviction and a 10-year jail term awarded by the trial court here in July 2014. Besides the sentence, the two were also fined Rs 10,000 each.

The high court set aside the trial court’s order and said that “on perusal of statements of the prosecution witnesses and various exhibits on record, they revealed infirmities or inconsistencies which have emerged on record”.