A Delhi court has acquitted a man in an alleged case of rape of his minor pupil in 2019 and observed the complainant was in a consensual relationship with him.

Additional sessions judge Ajay Nagar was hearing the case against a tuition teacher against whom the girl, a class 12 student at that time, got a complaint registered alleging she had been repeatedly raped between 2015 and 2018, besides being threatened and forced to watch porn.

The court, however, underlined material contradictions in the girl's statements.

In a 45-page judgement passed on December 5, the court considered the evidence and held, "Accused is acquitted of all charges…" Elaborating on the reasons behind its verdict, the court said the prosecution could not prove the complainant was a minor at the time of the alleged offence and therefore the provision for aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act could not be invoked.

It noted the complainant's testimony of having looked at a "vulgar picture inadvertently" and resiling from her statement that the accused showed her pornographic videos.

"Moreover, the explanation given by the survivor for not disclosing such facts of sexual abuse to her family members or police is not plausible," the court said, "after the alleged rape, the girl did not raise an alarm and instead, she accompanied the accused, who dropped her home".

Noting her testimony about being "attracted" towards the accused and writing him "love letters", the court held the girl was having "a consensual and romantic relationship" with the accused.

It took note of submissions of defence counsels Nivesh Sharma and Ritu Singh about the complainant wanting to marry the accused, but getting a false rape case registered as he married another woman.

"It is clear from the record that the accused got married to some other woman somewhere in the year 2018 but before the registration of FIR in the present case. No plausible explanation has been given for not making the complaint against the accused for more than three years which clearly shows that it was the case of a consensual and romantic relationship between the accused and the survivor," said the court.

The complainant continued with her tuition classes despite the sexual assault, it underscored.

"It is highly improbable that a girl would go to such a place continuously despite the fact that penetrative sexual assaults are repeatedly being committed upon her forcibly,” the court pointed out.

The verdict further observed the absence of forensic evidence against the accused and held the mere fact that the complainant's hymen was found ruptured, did not prove the offence.

"There is nothing on record to prove the fact that penetrative sexual assaults were committed upon the survivor by the accused except from the testimony of the survivor but it is not reliable, trustworthy and does not inspire the confidence of the court as there are material contradictions," the court said.

It said though an accused could be convicted based on the survivor's sole testimony, it had to be of a "sterling quality".

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