Ghost who 'raped', walks free

Man arrested for rapeu00a0 acquitted as 'victim' says a ghost raped her

The law doesn't believe in ghosts and especially in those who allegedly commit 'rapes'.
In an unearthly rape case in which a 19-year-old girl said evil spirits possessed her when the incident took place last year, a Delhi court acquitted the accused on July 2. The man was out on bail.

The ghost story
In January 2007, Mithan Lal Agarwal had lodged a complaint at the Dakshinpuri police station accusing his neighbour Shakeel of abducting his daughter, Seema (name changed to protect her identity). But even though the police had carried out a thorough investigation, Seema and Shakeel could not be traced for five months.

"The girl and Shakeel were found at Dehradun in May. But in her confessional statement to the police, she said she had been possessed by an evil spirit and did not recollect the events of the last five months. She also changed her statement several times during the course of investigation," said advocate MS Khan, Shakeel's lawyer.u00a0u00a0

In her confessional statement Seema had said, "Mere upar upri hawa ka chakkar hai. Mere pair phir jaate hain. Main pehle bhi kai baaru00a0 ghar se do-do teen-teen din tak jaa chuki hoon. Is wajah se mujhe kabhi koi hosh nahi rehta hai (Evil spirits posses me and my feet are turned around.

I have often been away from home for days together and I don't recall incidents from those times)." But the girl added she was with Shakeel for four months and they have moved around Dehradun and Haridwar.

However, Khan said in Dehradun the girl had an abortion after two-and-a-half months of pregnancy.u00a0

Court verdict
On July 2, the court of Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Poonam A Bamba acquitted Shakeel, the accused, considering the status of the case that was full of conflicting views and loopholes from the complainant's side. The court observed the girl nowhere in her statement said she had been abducted or forcibly taken away by the accused. Stating from the medical report, the court said, "Ms X (referring to the girl) told the doctor that she went with the accused to Dehradun on her own free will to get married to him and stayed with him."
"It's a classic case under Section 366 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) where the rape victim's statement changed on more than one occasion. While the accused was granted bail almost a year ago, the court finally ruled out rape," said Khan.