Rape accused acquitted 20yrs later for lack of proof

Lucknow: Acquitting two convicts after 20 years in a gang rape case, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad high court said there was not sufficient evidence in the form of internal or external injury to prove that the woman had been subjected to the crime and also that her statement was “unreliable and contradictory”.
Allowing the appeal filed against the trial court verdict delivered on August 23, 1996 holding the accused guilty for gang rape, judge Ranjana Pandya said the statement of the woman and the story narrated by her was full of contradictions, unreliable, unworthy of credence and did not inspire confidence.
The woman had stated before the trial court that she was raped by the three appellants six times within three hours and that she was bound and gagged and slapped by one of the accused. She had also stated that when she was slapped, her hands were caught and she received marks on her cheek, when they slapped her.
The court also found contradictions in statement of the complainant and the circumstances. Lallu, who lodged the FIR, had turned hostile during trial saying he had gone to lodge FIR for theft of his buffalo but police got his thumb impression on a blank paper. The witness had also turned hostile and contradictions were found in the statement under sections 164 of Cr PC. Clothes of the woman were also not sent for forensic examination.
Additional sessions judge Barabanki had found the three accused guilty and sentenced them to 5 years rigorous imprisonment under Section 376 IPC with a fine of Rs 1,000 each. Each of the accused was sentenced further to three months rigorous imprisonment under Section 342 I.P.C. The three had challenged the verdict before HC. One of the accused Hari Shanker Chaurasiya died while appeal was pending before the HC.