New Delhi, April 3 (HS): In an important ruling, the Delhi High Court stated that a DNA report only establishes paternity and does not determine the absence of consent. The bench led by Justice Amit Mahajan made this remark while acquitting an accused who had been sentenced to ten years in prison for a rape case.

The court noted that while the DNA report proved that the biological father of the child born from the woman’s womb is indeed the accused, merely becoming pregnant is not sufficient to prove the crime of rape unless it is also established whether the sexual relationship was consensual or not. It is a well-known law that the crime under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code is based on the absence of consent. The court stated that circumstantial evidence does not demonstrate the lack of consent.

The court further observed that no explanation was provided for the delay in filing the FIR in this case, and an FIR filed without clarification may result from social pressure. The court noted that it cannot be denied that the allegations were made to establish a consensual relationship as rape, possibly to spare the complainant woman and her family from facing societal stigma. The court concluded that the accused should benefit from the doubt. It stated that the law does not consider silence as consent but also does not convict in the absence of evidence beyond reasonable doubt. This is why doubt remains in this case, which is due to a lack of evidence rather than speculation.

The High Court stated that not only were there contradictions in the woman’s statements during the trial, but there was also no medical or forensic evidence to confirm the rape. The woman alleged that a young man living in her neighborhood called her to his home under the pretext of playing Ludo and raped her multiple times. An FIR against the young man was registered in January 2018, and in December 2022, the trial court found him guilty and sentenced him to ten years in prison. The accused challenged this order of the trial court in the High Court.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar