Noida: A fast-track court on Monday acquitted a Bihar man of rape charges after the complainant and her family members turned hostile and the court was informed that the accused had married the woman.“Factual witnesses, including the complainant, were declared hostile by the prosecution and did not support the incident. The victim’s father also did not support the prosecution’s story during cross-examination. It is clear that the accused is married to the victim. The charges against the accused of raping the victim, threatening to share obscene photographs of her and repeatedly raping her under the pretence of marriage are not proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” the court ruled. While acquitting the man, additional sessions judge Satyendra Singh ordered him to execute a personal bond of Rs 30,000 and one surety of the like amount within 15 days.The case stems from an FIR registered at Sector 49 police station in 2022. The woman alleged that she met the accused, who was working as an accounts officer in a bank in Delhi, while looking for a job. The accused got her employed with a private company and they became friends. After this, the accused had invited her to his house, offered her a drink laced with an intoxicant and raped her. She said the accused had also taken obscene photographs and videos of her and threatened to circulate them. When she got married to someone else in 2016, she said the accused blackmailed her for a physical relationship on the basis of the photographs. She said she became pregnant with the accused’s child and when her in-laws came to know about it, they severed all ties with her. While she initially did not lodge a complaint, she later came to know the accused had exploited another girl in the same way and ultimately went to the cops.However, during trial, she said she was misled by a friend, who had a grudge against the accused, to file the complaint. Further, she said she signed the complaint without reading its content.The woman’s father supported her statement and said she filed the case because the accused was not ready to marry her at the time. Her brother also informed the court that after her previous marriage fell apart, the accused agreed to marry his sister and they are currently together.
