A Sessions court has discharged a 56-year-old man of charges of rape, which were registered against him in the year 1985. The court while passing the orders held that the case was a love affair and that there is no evidence to prove that the accused had raped her.
The order read, "On the complaint made by the father of the victim, an FIR was registered on December 12, 1985, with the Gamdevi Police Station. The accused and the victim had eloped from their homes and were traced in Mahabaleshwar."
"When the police questioned the victim, she accepted the fact that the two were in a relationship and it was her decision to go to Mahabaleshwar just for fun. There is absolutely no material to proceed for the trial against the accused. At the relevant time, admittedly, she was above 16 years ago. The case is of love affair and elopement. There is nothing on record that both had sexual intercourse," it read.
Digambar Talekar, a resident of Pune, did not know of the case which was pending against him and so the case went in the list of dormant files.
It was in the year 2018 when the accused responded to the non-bailable warrant issued against him. When the accused was questioned on the lines, he said that he was already married to another woman and had a son who is studying in 12th grade.