Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Agreeing with the trial court, which had called the US scholar a “sterling witness” while convicting Mahmood Farooqui on charges of rape, the Delhi High Court said the court was, however, “beset” with the question of whether Farooqui had sexually abused her without her consent. Farooqui was acquitted by the HC on Monday.
Explaining the meaning of ‘consent’ in relation to sexual activity, Justice Ashutosh Kumar said, “…sexual consent would be the key factor in defining sexual assault as any sexual activity without consent would be rape”. In some cases, however, “there could be an affirmative consent, or a positive denial, but it might remain underlying/dormant, which could lead to confusion in the mind of the other”, the court said.
Disagreeing with the submission of the woman’s counsel, Vrinda Grover, that Farooqui, before the trial court, did not argue that the act was consensual, the judge said, “… if it appears that some circumstance could be gleaned from such already collected evidence, which enures to the accused’s benefit, the same cannot be brushed aside on the slender ground that such plea was not taken before the trial court”.
The judge also refused to consider the alleged mental condition of Farooqui. Justice Ashutosh Kumar said, “Since no evidence has been led on this aspect, any foray into this field would only be fraught with speculative imagination, which the court does not intend to undertake.”
Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
