Man discharged of raping 63-year-old German ex-wife

New Delhi, Aug 25 (PTI) A Delhi court has discharged a37-year-old man, accused of raping his 63-year-old ex-wife, aGerman national, saying there was an inexplicable delay ofthree years in lodging FIR in the case. Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Kumar, whiledischarging the accused, a Delhi resident, also noted thatthere was no medical evidence to support the allegations ofrape against him. "The delay of one or two days in lodging the FIR may bebonafide, reasonable and justified in the facts andcircumstances of a given case. However, in the present casethere is a delay of about three years in lodging FIR," thejudge said. "After examining the documentary as well as oral evidence…it is not showing that accused committed the allegedoffences for which he is being prosecuted because there is novalid justification for delay in lodging the FIR. The court further said the evidentiary value of medicalevidence is zero and the consent was obtained on pretext ofmarriage, so it cannot be said to result from misconception offact in the facts and circumstances of this case." "I am of the opinion that the materials placed before thecourt do not disclose the grave suspicion against the accusedfor framing a charge against him for committing offencepunishable under section 376 of the IPC," the judge said. The court’s order came on a complaint of the German womanalleging that she came to India in 2001 and met accused in ahotel at Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh and they married eachother in 2005. However, they got divorced in 2007, but later inSeptember 2012, they met again and accused establishedphysical relation with her against her consent with a promiseto remarry her, but again ditched her, the complaint said. An FIR in the case was lodged in 2015 on the complaint ofthe woman under sections 376 (rape) and 420 (cheating) of IPC. The court discharged him under section 376 but directedhim to appear before another magisterial court to be tried forthe offence of cheating. The accused, while denying the rape allegations, hadcontended that the physical relations between them afterdivorce were consensual. PTI AGDV