Ahmedabad: Court discharges rape accused, orders trial for cheating

AHMEDABAD: A city sessions court has discharged five persons in a rape and abetment case in which the victim had claimed that one of the accused had assumed a false identity and established physical relationship with her on the pretext of marriage.
While discharging all five persons accused under Sections 376 and 114 of IPC, the court has ordered them to be charged under Section 417 of the IPC for cheating and deception.
In this case, the woman had lodged an FIR with Navrangpura police in 2015 against three persons, one of them for having physical relationship with her by making a false promise of marriage. More than three years later, when the person did not marry her, she found out that he was already married and had two children. He had even changed his name. Other persons, the friends of the main accused, were also accused of abetment in the crime of rape.
The police filed a chargesheet and two sessions cases were instituted against the accused. They filed a discharge application and argued that nowhere had the victim stated that the physical relationship was a forced one. No case can be made under Section 376 of IPC because there was no allegation of force involved. It was a consensual relationship between the two persons. Moreover, the woman also knew about the real name of the principal accused because when they stayed in a city-based hotel, the real name of the accused was mentioned in the register.
After hearing the discharge plea, the court said that there is no allegation of forcing the victim into sexual intercourse with the accused. “…this court is of the opinion that even if allegations made are assumed to be true, no offence punishable under Section 376 IPC can be said to be made out as against the applicants. Significantly, the allegation of concealing the real name of accused or his marital status as against the applicants would bring the said ommission within the purview of offence punishable Section 417 IPC,” the court said.