Mumbai: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has acquitted a man sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping a 16-year-old, observing that no prudent girl would go to a hotel room on her very first meeting with an unknown man as the same would send “alarming signals” to her.
Observation Made By The Court
“In my opinion, this conduct of the victim is not consistent with the conduct of a person of ordinary prudence placed in a similar situation. The victim has stated that the accused had booked a room for them. A girl meeting a young boy for the first time would not go to a hotel room…,” Justice GA Sanap remarked on August 28.
The HC was hearing an appeal filed by a 28-year-old man challenging the November 22, 2021 judgment of the special court at Achalpur, sentencing him to 10 years in jail on charges of rape under the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
About The Case
According to the girl, who was studying in Class 12, met the accused on social media in 2017; they later met and exchanged phone numbers. He went to her college and asked her to accompany him to a hotel room. The accused then allegedly took out a T-shirt and asked the victim to wear it. However, he clicked her pictures while she was changing and then threatened to circulate the photographs if she refused to have a physical relationship. Fearing defamation, the victim complied.
The accused went ahead and circulated the photos on Facebook and sent them to her relatives, cousins, and her fiancé, following which she and her parents lodged a complaint. The HC, however, remarked that the evidence of the victim about the incident is “totally unbelievable”. It said that if a girl is with an unknown person in a hotel and finds herself in trouble, she is bound to raise a hue and cry.
It added that the victim has not claimed that the hotel was far away from the crowded area. Apart from the victim and her family not disclosing the date of the incident, the court noted that they are silent regarding the date on which the photographs were circulated. The court also underscored that even though the photographs were circulated in March 2017, the complaint was lodged only in October 2017.
