SC Acquits 2 Rape Convicts

A bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K. Vinod Chandran referred to a previous apex court judgment that cautioned against false allegations of rape, stating that while rape causes immense distress, false accusations also inflict severe distress, damage, and humiliation on the accused. The bench emphasized that courts must be equally vigilant in protecting the accused from false implication.

“We find it difficult to accept their testimony as being of sterling quality. Nor can we say that the narrative presented by the victims inspires confidence. Looking for corroboration, we find the entire account unbelievable and unsubstantiated in its finer details,” the bench observed.

The verdict came in response to an appeal filed by two accused challenging the Bombay High Court’s July 2024 order, which had dismissed their appeal against a July 2003 trial court conviction in a case involving the abduction and rape of two women in June 2000.

There were a total of four accused in the case; only two were convicted, and that too solely on the abduction charge. The High Court later allowed the appeal of the other two accused and acquitted them. However, it upheld the conviction and punishment of the appellants who approached the Supreme Court.

In its verdict, the top court noted that both the trial court and the High Court had placed significant reliance on the testimony of a witness who allegedly saw the survivors with a child, traveling in a vehicle believed to be used by the accused.

However, the bench pointed out that, “strangely,” the witness did not identify either of the accused as having been present in the vehicle.

“The story put forth by the prosecution, as narrated by the prosecution witnesses (alleged victims), is riddled with inconsistencies and raises grave suspicion in our minds—amounting to reasonable doubt,” the court said.

Allowing the appeal, the Supreme Court acquitted both the accused and set aside the convictions delivered by the subordinate courts.

According to the prosecution, the two women had boarded a tempo vehicle intending to go to Kurla, in which the four accused were allegedly traveling. The accused refused to stop the vehicle at Kurla and instead took the women to a field, where two of them allegedly raped the women, the prosecution added.