Court acquits TISS rape accused

Eighteen months after six Mumbai college students were accused of gangraping an American national who was then a student at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Eighteen months after six Mumbai college students were accused of gangraping an American national who was then a student at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS),a fast-track Sessions court on Wednesday acquitted all six for want of evidence. On April 12 last year,a 23-year-old US national had alleged that she was gangraped by a group of friends with whom she had allegedly gone out partying.

On Wednesday,Sessions Judge S D Jagmalani,while reading out parts of the judgment,said,The court has accepted the defence argument and the victim in this case cant be considered a wholly reliable witness. Therefore,in the absence of corroborative evidence,the prosecution cant be said to have established the case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

Six accused,Vinamra Soni,Jaskaran Singh Bhullar alias Karan,Harshvardhan Yadav,Anish Borkataki,Kundanraj Borgonain and Darayus Colabawala were arrested soon after the alleged incident. However,Borgonain was later released on bail by the Bombay High Court.

According to the prosecution,the victim had first met the accused at Deonars Cafe XO that night. The group had consumed snacks and liquor at the pub and from there had proceeded to Borgonains rented flat in Andheri. The victim later recounted the incident in court during the in-camera trial.

The victim claims that she was then gangraped by the group. Medical evidence showed no indications of any sort of sexual contact with any of the accused. There is no mark or injury on the body of the victim or any forensic evidence to show that the accused had made any sort of advances on her, said Sonis advocate Rohini Salian.

The court relied heavily on the apex courts citations given by the defence and observed that the victim had been inconsistent in her deposition. Even if she stuck to her statement later before the court,she had been inconsistent in the initial phase of her medical examination. She had claimed that three persons could have raped and and later went on to say it could be six. She had also said that she suspected she was raped,not that she was sure of the act. It helped the defence along with the delay in the registration of the complainant, said Borkatakis lawyer Majid Memon.

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