The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has acquitted Rahul Lahase, who was previously convicted of raping a minor Class 12 student. The court found it unlikely that a "prudent girl" would visit a hotel room with someone she had just met. Lahase appealed his conviction and 10-year sentence, imposed by a sessions court in Amravati in November 2021 under the IPC, POCSO Act, and IT Act.
Justice Govinda Sanap overturned the conviction, questioning the credibility of the survivor's testimony. The allegations were that Lahase, after meeting the minor on Facebook in March 2017, coerced her into a physical relationship and later blackmailed her with intimate photographs. The survivor also claimed that Lahase circulated these photos to her family and fiancé after their relationship ended. The court deemed the survivor's account implausible, noting that a "prudent girl" would not typically go to a hotel room with a person she had just met. Justice Sanap remarked that such behaviour was inconsistent with ordinary caution.
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