A sessions court while granting relief of pre-arrest bail last week to a 73-year-old man accused of raping his domestic help, pointed to the six months delay in lodging the complaint and said that it is possible that it lodged to extract money.
Additional sessions judge S U Baghele, in his order, said the factual scenario is that in spite of the alleged outraging of modesty, the informant continued to work as a maid. “Not only that, in spite of the alleged rape, she did not leave the house of the applicant for two to three days. Surprisingly, even after leaving the house, the informant did not lodge an FIR for almost six months,” the order read.
The court stated that in the case of rape, the victim is not expected to wait for six months to lodge an FIR, particularly when there is no pressure exerted upon her. It concluded that the mentioned factual scenario renders it quite possible that the FIR may have been lodged with a view to extract money. “The delay in lodging the FIR, ipso facto, speaks volumes, that the informant got more than sufficient time to mould the story as she pleased,” it said.
