HCacquits 2 in rape case due to lack of evidence

New Delhi, May 23: The Delhi high court has acquitted two men of charges of gang- raping a 13- year- old girl, saying the prosecution has failed to to prove their culpability

Though the possibility of the assault cannot be completely ruled out.

While passing the order, it directed the legal aid authority to ensure that every rape victim in the national capital gets a lawyer and counselling services from beginning till the end of the case.

The court also reiterated that its 2009 guidelines should be followed in true spirit, including that the rape victim should be provided prompt medical assistance.

A bench of Justices S. Muralidhar and I. S. Mehta, while acquitting two men of charges of gang- raping the minor girl, said the possibility of the minor being subjected to sexual assault or rape cannot be entirely ruled out, but the prosecution has not been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the two men were responsible for it.

The prosecution had alleged that three accused, including a juvenile, had kidnapped the girl on February 9, 2012 when she was walking towards her friend’s house. They pushed her into a car and took her to a room in east Delhi where one of them repeatedly raped her as the other two waited outside.

The two men were sentenced to life imprisonment for the offence of kidnapping and gangraping the girl by a trial court in November last year.

“This case presents an opportunity for the court to reiterate the guidelines issued in its decision in April 2009 in Delhi Commission for Women v/ s Delhi police, some of which were not observed in their true spirit in this case. In particular, the victim was not provided prompt medical assistance,” the court said. — PTI