Mumbai Court acquits four in alleged rape of sex worker

A Mumbai court recently acquitted four accused of sexual assault and gangrape case after noting that the victim, who was allegedly a sex worker, did not give reliable or trustworthy statements in support of her complaint. [The State of Maharashtra v. Mehaboob Babu Malik Khan & Anr.].Sessions judge Shrikant Bhosale said that though no one has the right to commit forceful intercourse merely because a woman is a sex worker, there was doubt in the prosecution story in the present case as regards forcible sexual intercourse. “The victim does not appear to be trustworthy and reliable in light of her statement in the first information, before Metropolitan Magistrate while recording statement under section 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure and thus, there is reasonable doubt about the forcible sexual assault by the accused. The story of physical assault to attract sections 223 (wrongful confinement), 342 (abduction), 266 (threat), 506(ii) (criminal intimidation) 376(d) (gang rape) and 377 (unnatural intercourse) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)” the Court said..The prosecution case was that in May 2016, at around 1.30 am, the survivor got down from an auto rickshaw because the driver allegedly did not know the way. She tried to board another auto which came her way but before she could talk to the driver, two men from inside the auto caught hold of her, closed her mouth and forcibly made her sit in the auto. They then took her to a room threatened to kill her, committed gangrape on her and also had unnatural intercourse. Hearing her shouts, people in the chawl came to the scene and the accused then fled. Two girls, who came to spot, helped the victim with clothes. The police then arrived and based on the survivor’s complaint, lodged a first information report (FIR). The police managed to arrest all the four accused on the same day. The additional public prosecutor submitted that all ten witnesses of prosecution supported the case. .The defence took contention that the survivor was a sex worker whom they had hired. When there was a dispute regarding the payment, the victim lodged a false case against them, it was argued.They also contended that during inspection parade, the victim was not able to identify any of them, even though the accused were shown to her on the date of the incident itself.They also claimed that the two girls who the survivor claimed had helped her, were not examined by the prosecution..The Court said that even though a woman is sex worker, no one has right to commit forceful intercourse with her. However, it was necessary to ascertain whether the statements of the victim that she was sexually assaulted, can be accepted. The judge found that there was no other statement giving details about the acts of the accused and use of force by them.The Court also noted that there was no medical evidence regarding injury to the survivor or bleeding.“There was no injury, no bleeding, no evidence of injury. The report further states that no evidence of injury suggestive of application of force was noticed. On the basis of observation the medical officer made final opinion that ‘over all finding is consistent with old sexual intercourse’,” the Court said..Aside from these observations, the Court found there were several discrepancies regarding the identification parade.“The medical evidence as referred above is not supportive to the version of the victim that there was forcible intercourse or that there was any physical assault on her, specially in light of the contention of the victim that someone from the accused was beating her by hammer,” the Court said while acquitting the accused. .[Read Judgment]