SC acquits Faridabad man accused of raping minor cousin

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has acquitted a man, serving 10-year jail term for allegedly raping his 15-year-old cousin in 2001 at Faridabad, holding that the offence has not been established.

A bench of Justices NV Ramana and Mohan M Shantanagoudar set aside the verdict of the Punjab and Haryana high court upholding the trial court’s 2011 judgement convicting Sham Singh and his brother Jai Singh.

While Sham Singh, who has been in prison for seven years, moved the SC, his brother Jai Singh has already served the ten-year jail term.

The SC took note of the fact that the testimonies of two defence witnesses, who had held the ‘panchayat’ in the matter, did not refer to the offence of rape .

It said there was “every possibility of false implication of the accused in this matter to take revenge against the family of the accused because of long-standing disputes, as alleged, between the two families”.

The high court, while upholding the conviction of two brothers in the case, however, had acquitted their mother due to want of evidence against her.

In its order, the apex court noted that the wife, children, sister and mother of the accused persons were present in the house when the alleged incident took place and said that in such a scenario, the incident was highly unlikely.