High Court quashes rape charges against Iskcon volunteer

BENGALURU: The high court on Tuesday quashed proceedings in a rape case lodged against Kulashekar Chaithanya Das, in charge of the public relations wing at Iskcon, Bengaluru.
“It is odd that the complainant firmly refused to undergo medical examination. No logical conclusion can be reached in the trial. The case caused anxiety and hardship to the petitioner for five years, and if it continues to linger, it would result in encouraging gross abuse of the process of law,“ Justice Anand Byrareddy observed on Tuesday .
Das said he has been a devotee and full-time volunteer in Iskcon, Bengaluru, for the last 15 years and had taken `Brahmacharya Deeksha'.
Das said he filed a police complaint on March 21, 2011, against the alleged harassment and blackmail tactics adopted by the complainant woman and her mother. He said they had threatened to commit suicide if he did not marry the complainant.
He said to counter his complaint, the mother and daughter went to police on March 29, 2011, but didn't make any allegation of rape. They filed representations before several authorities, but no rape charge was mentioned. Their only grievance was Das had promised to marry the daughter and later backtracked. The complainant alleged that Das had raped her with a false assurance that he would be marrying her and she was subjected to repeated sexual abuse .