Thane court acquits man of rape charges after decade-long legal battle

A court in Maharashtras Thane has acquitted a 40yearold man of charges involving repeated rape and criminal intimidation highlighting several inconsistencies in the testimony of the complainant reported news agency PTIIn his order of January 12 a copy of which was made available on Thursday Additional Sessions Judge D S Deshmukh held that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt reported PTIThe complainant a sisterinlaw of the accused had alleged that the man had exploited her financial vulnerability and her daughters illness to repeatedly rape her between November 2014 and April 2015 She further claimed that the accused had threatened to kill her husbandJudge Deshmukh pointed to the lack of resistance by the woman If she was scared of his threats and wanted to resist his sexual activities she could have lodged a complaint immediately he said reported PTIIt also said There is a money dispute as prosectrix complainant has admitted in her examinationinchief that she has taken money from the accused from time to time for medical treatment of her daughter Therefore the defence taken by the accused on the dispute of money the present case was registered against him is acceptable reported PTIAfter reviewing the evidence of six prosecution witnesses including medical officers and investigating officers the court concluded that the testimony of the woman did not inspire confidence dropping all charges against the accusedBMC Election Results 2026 LIVE Wardwise and Partywise Counting Updates12 years on Thane court acquits four in attempt to murder caseIn another case a court in Thane has cleared four men of the attempted murder and rioting charges after nearly 12 years following the prosecutions failure to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt reported PTIThe Additional Sessions Court in Thane passed the acquittal order on MondayThe victim Ganesh Gupta was assaulted with sharp weapons on July 1 2014 in Wagle Estate Thane over previous enmity according to the prosecution reported PTIThe accused persons were booked on charges of attempted murder rioting and theftAfter hearing the submissions by the defence and prosecution and the testimony of seven witnesses including the victim and the complainant Judge AS Bhagwat found significant inconsistencies in the case reported PTIThe crossexamination disclosed that the complainant had not described the weapons or the clothing of the accused in his initial statement Furthermore the defence argued that the victim himself had criminal cases pending against him and that the allegations were politically motivatedDefence counsels Adv Hemlata Deshmukh and Adv Raj Dalvi appearing for the accused punched holes in the prosecutionAs the allegations against accused 1 to 4 are not proved they are entitled to be acquitted in this case the court stated reported PTIAll four accused who were arrested in July 2014 and later released on bail have now been cleared of all charges under the Indian Penal Code and the Arms ActWith inputs from PTI