NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has acquitted three men who had been sentenced to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment for gang-rape, holding that the testimony of the prosecutrix was inconsistent on material aspects and the prosecution had failed to prove the charge beyond reasonable doubt.
A single-judge Bench of Justice Chandrasekharan Sudha allowed the appeals filed by Anwar, Sandeep and Anish Kumar against a 2017 order of the trial court which had convicted them under Section 376D (gang-rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
"In criminal jurisprudence, if two views are possible, the one favouring the accused must be adopted. In the present case, the evidence does not exclude the possibility of consensual intercourse. The prosecution has failed to establish, beyond reasonable doubt, the offence punishable under Section 376D IPC, " Justice Sudha said.
According to the prosecution, the incident occurred on May 31, 2013 when the victim stepped out of her house to use a washroom located outside. One of the accused allegedly forced her into a car, after which the three men took her to a warehouse where they sexually assaulted her.