New Delhi:
Two youth accused of gangraping a 34-year-old woman in a desolate forest area here have been let off by a Delhi court on grounds of inconsistency in the victim's statements.
Observing that the woman's deposition before the court and her statements to police were "full of contradictions," Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Vijay Kumar Dahiya acquitted West Delhi residents Imran Ansari and Jitender, facing trial for allegedly kidnapping and raping the married woman.
"As such the three statements of the prosecutrix (victim) are full of material contradictions pertaining to the manner in which she was subjected to rape, number of accused who committed rape upon her as well as place of incident," the court said.
The woman, working as a labourer, had lodged a complaint with the police alleging that she was kidnapped by Ansari on March 3, 2010, when she was on her way to her friend's house in quest of a job as an agriculture labour.
She said that she was pulled by Ansari and Jitender in his car from the roadside and on the way they were joined by some other people and she was taken to a room, built in a desolate jungle in Nazafgarh area in West Delhi, where they all raped her.
She told the police that after having been raped, she managed to escape to a nearby village from where she went to the police and lodged the complaint.
Though the police arrested Jitender and Ansari, it could not arrest others as she was not able to identify them.
The court, however, after the trial let the accused off, pointing out that there are various inconsistencies in her statement.