Delhi HC acquits four convicts of gang rape, criticises police for shoddy probe

New Delhi [India], April 1 : The Delhi High Court on Monday acquitted four men and set aside the life sentence awarded by the trial court for alleged offences of gang rape and kidnapping in July 2018. At the instance of the prosecutrix, police had arrested all of them from their native village in district Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.
Division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Manoj Jain, while setting aside the trial court judgement, criticised Delhi police for the shoddy probe and trial court for ignoring the statement of prosecutrix before the magistrate and during trial.
Pawan Sharma and other three were held guilty and convicted for offences under Sections related to gang rape, kidnapping etc and were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life with fine. They had challenged the trial court judgement.
The division bench said, "We are of the view that there was not enough material on record to prove the case of prosecution. No incriminating word has been whispered by 'G' and her parents.
While criticising the police, the court said, " Investigation is also not upto the mark as neither PCR form nor CDR of mobile of 'G' were placed on record." It was important to trace her location as she made call from her mobile phone.
"It is also quite apparent that she had made call from her own mobile to PCR but for the reasons best known to the prosecution, PCR form has also not been placed on record," the bench observed.
"Even if semen was detected on the 'legging' of victim and the DNA extracted from the same matched with the DNA profile of the accused persons, it could not have been
automatically assumed that it was a case of sexual assault, particularly when 'G' has not uttered even a single word in this regard. It could have been also taken as a case of consensual physical relationship," the bench said.
The High court said that the trial court swayed away by the first statement of prosecutrix.
The bench observed, "Quite possibly, learned trial court seems to have got carried away by the fact that in her first statement, which has been otherwise disowned by her during trial, she had incriminated all the appellants."
Learned Trial Court also did not give any weightage to the fact that such statement was made by her on 29 July 2018 and immediately thereafter when she was produced before the concerned learned Magistrate, she, in her statement under Section 164 Cr.P.C., categorically claimed that she had left the home of her own and same version was reiterated by her in the witness box," the bench observed.
The High Court noted that the prosecutrix was major at the relevant time.
The division bench held that in such a situation, there was virtually nothing which could have indicated that she had been kidnapped and then confined and gang-raped.
On the shoddy police investigation the High court remarked that it is quite baffling and mysterious as to why the police did not collect the CDR details of mobile of 'G'.
It would have certainly thrown valuable light about vital details. her mobile was seized by the police, it added.
" It seems that no effort was made to obtain the call details record and to place the same on record. Holding back such valuable piece of evidence has to be taken as a circumstance
against the prosecution. We will not mince any word in commenting that Call Details Record of 'G' would have also reflected her location which could have even strengthened the case of prosecution but is not explicable as to why such valuable piece of evidence was not bothered to be collected. Thus, a golden opportunity went begging," the bench said in the judgement passed on April 1.
In her cross-examination conducted by the prosecution, she admitted that she had made call to the police but pleaded her ignorance whether such call was made by her from Mathura or Delhi. So much so, she claimed that her phone was taken into possession by the police, the judgement noted.