A Kolkata Court has acquitted a man in a rape case after the complainant retracted her allegations, stating that the complaint had been filed under a misunderstanding.
The case stemmed from an FIR registered on November 24, 2020, following the woman’s claim that she was in a relationship with the accused since 2017. She had alleged that on the assurance of marriage, she consented to a physical relationship with him at a Salt Lake hotel, after which he allegedly refused to marry her and absconded. Based on the complaint, the man was arrested on November 25, 2020, and remained in judicial custody for 51 days before securing bail in January 2021.
During trial proceedings, however, the complainant told the court that she had filed the complaint owing to a misunderstanding and further admitted that the written complaint was prepared by her friend, which she signed without being aware of its contents. She further deposed that she did not recall the circumstances in detail and did not level any allegations of rape or cheating against the accused during her testimony.
The prosecution’s case weakened further as other witnesses, including the complainant’s mother, grandmother, and neighbour, failed to substantiate the allegations.
In its judgment dated August 28, the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Fast Track 2nd Court, Calcutta, Anindya Banerjee, held that the prosecution had “miserably failed” to prove the charges under Sections 376 (rape) and 417 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code. Observing that the evidence indicated consensual intimacy between two adults, the court extended the benefit of doubt to the accused and acquitted him of all charges.
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