Delhi court acquits rape accused after woman had WhatsApp chats with him

A court in Delhi recently acquitted a man of rape charges, citing WhatsApp messages between him and the woman involved.

While discharging the accused in the case, the Delhi court said, “The WhatsApp chats completely refuted the prosecutor’s version that there was forced sexual intercourse by the accused.” he said.

In its opinion, the court said that the WhatsApp conversations between the defendant and the woman were extremely personal and intimate and completely contradicted “the woman’s bald verbal claims”.

According to the court, the notable message the woman sent immediately after the incident was as follows:kuch mat sochna‘ (don’t think anything wrong).

The court said, “Such a WhatsApp conversation immediately following the incident of forced sexual intercourse is extremely unlikely and completely eliminates the allegation of forced sexual intercourse.”

Referring to the allegation that the incident took place in a car parked on the roadside near Sarojini Nagar Market in Delhi, the court observed that it seemed unlikely that anyone could be forcibly raped inside a car in a public place without being noticed.

“The interviews showed that the defendant and the prosecutor had an extremely sincere and intimate relationship. There were also intimate and personal conversations between them. The conversations held immediately after the incident completely distort the claim of sexual intercourse. The defendant had already denied it. Regarding the defendant and the woman, the court said, ” “He wanted to marry her and even his family was looking for a suitable wife for him,” he commented.

While the court acquitted the accused, it also noted that the woman filed an FIR about five months after the alleged incident.

The court also rejected the woman’s statement that she did not complain about the alleged incident because she was persuaded by the defendant under the pretext of getting married.

“She is a very well-educated and mature woman and it is extremely unlikely that she would decide to marry him instead of filing a complaint against the defendant,” the court said.

The allegations against the defendant include that he raped the woman in his car and then persuaded her not to report the issue by promising marriage.

During the hearing, advocate Shashank Dewan, who appeared on behalf of the accused, argued that the accused and the woman were in a consensual sexual relationship without any marriage commitment and that an FIR was filed by the woman to pressure the accused to marry her.

Based on the prosecution evidence, the court took the view that the verbal allegations made by the woman in her statements could not stand up in the light of conclusive scientific evidence in the form of WhatsApp chats between her and the defendant.

The court noted that during the consideration of a charge, the trial court has the authority to modify and weigh the prosecution evidence for the limited purpose of determining whether the prima facie case against the defendant has been severed.