Thane man who spent 10 years in jail for rape acquitted

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court recently acquitted a Shahapur youth who has served a 10-year prison term for raping and abetting the suicide of a girl in his neighbourhood.
Madhukar Barora was 23 years old when he was arrested in 2009 for allegedly raping a girl who subsequently set herself on fire. Justice Sadhana Jadhav cited irregularities in the trial and said the prosecution had not proved the reliability of the dying declaration, which was the sole evidence against Barora. The HC also faulted the evidence given by the girl’s father.
In 2012, a sessions court in Kalyan had held Barora guilty for the offences of kidnapping, rape and abetting suicide and sentenced him to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Accused was in dark about dying declaration: HC
Besides the dying declaration, there is no other material to support the case of the prosecution as the substantive evidence (of the girl’s father) is full of inherent omissions and contradictions, said Justice Jadhav.
“This court is of the opinion that the said irregularities, if any, in recording the statement under Section 313 of Criminal Procedure Code (power to examine the accused), cannot be rectified at this stage for the simple reason that the accused has undergone the whole of the sentence and was in custody from 2009 to 2019. He has served the substantive sentence of 10 years and therefore it would be futile to make an endeavour to fill up lacunae in recording of the statement. Hence, the accused deserves to be acquitted of the charges levelled against him,” the judge ruled.
The court said the contents of the dying declaration which incriminated Barora were not put to him while recording his statement during trial. “It is clear that the accused had no knowledge as to what was the dying declaration of the deceased against him, due to which the offence was registered against him,” said the judge.
The prosecution said the girl had gone missing on the night of October 11, 2009, when she stepped out of her home to answer nature’s call. Her father said she returned around 4am on October 13 when the family was asleep and set herself on fire. The family woke up to her cries for help and rushed her to a hospital where she died a few days later. In her dying declaration, she said Barora had abducted and raped her.
Advocate Shraddha Sawant, appointed by the court to represent Barora, said the girl had suffered over 80% burn injuries and was not in a position to give her statement. Sawant referred to the statement of the gynaecologist who said there was no sign of rape. Further, the father had admitted in the cross-examination that the house latch was locked from inside, which was at variance with the statement that the victim had entered the house while the family was asleep.