"No Girl Would Accompany An Unknown Boy To A Hotel Room On Their First Meeting": Bombay High Court Acquits Man Booked For Rape

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court while acquitting a man convicted for raping a girl, observed that no prudent girl would ever go to a hotel room on her very first meeting with an unknown boy as the same would send "alarming" signals to the girl about the boy.

Single-judge Justice Govind Sanap refused to believe the version of the victim in a rape case, wherein the girl claimed to have met the convict through Facebook and thereafter started chatting and communicating with each other on the phone.

Thereafter, it was stated that in February 2017, the boy, who lived in another district, came to the girl's college to meet her and again somewhere in March 2017, he called her to meet him in a hotel room near her residence.

It was stated that she went to the hotel, where the boy told her that he had booked a room to speak about "some urgent" issue with her.

On entering the hotel room, it was stated that they had consensual sexual intercourse. The girl further alleged that the boy clicked some objectionable photos of her and uploaded them on Facebook while sharing them with her relatives and family members after which she "broke up" with him.

Thereafter, it was argued that the boy even shared her objectionable photos with her fiance and therefore, in October 2017, the girl lodged a case against the convict.

Terming the story "unbelievable", Justice Sanap noted that the victim girl did not specify the exact date on which she met the convict in a hotel room where he "forced" her to have sex with him.

"The victim was not acquainted with the accused prior to meeting in the hotel. It was their first meeting. She has stated that on the request of the accused, she accompanied the accused to the room of the hotel. In my opinion, this conduct of the victim is not consistent with the conduct of a person of ordinary prudence placed in a similar situation," the judge said.

"A girl meeting a young boy for the first time would not go to a hotel room. Such a conduct on the part of a boy would obviously send the alarming signals to the girl. In my view, the evidence of the victim about the occurrence of the incident is totally unbelievable," Justice Sanap opined.

Court noted that it is not the case of the victim that they had sexual intercourse on more than one occasion and that a girl meeting an unknown person for the first time would not accompany him to a secluded place.

"Even if, on some promise, the girl accompanies an unknown person to a room and if she is put in any trouble, then she is bound to raise hue and cry. It is not the case of the victim that the room of the hotel was far away from the crowded area of hotel. In my view, the occurrence of the incident in the hotel room, therefore, appears to be unbelievable," the judge emphasised.

The court noted the subsequent conduct of the victim, which it held was not consistent.

"She has stated that when the trouble meted out to her by the accused became unbearable, she informed about the same to her parents. In my view, the evidence of the father) shows that when the photographs were uploaded by the accused on Facebook of his relatives, he came to know that the accused was causing trouble to his daughter," the bench noted.

The court concluded that the victim and her father were silent as to why, despite the publication of the photographs in March 2017, the report was lodged in October 2017.

"It is evident that the victim, after noticing the attitude of the accused, discontinued her relationship with him. It is, therefore, possible that the accused might have decided to trouble them and therefore, on repetitive publication of the photographs of the victim in social media, the parents would have lodged the report," the bench noted.

Finally, the bench held that the material on record, particularly, the medical evidence and the testimony of the victim and her father and a few witnesses, did not inspire confidence and therefore, the bench acquitted the convict.

Appearance:

Advocates Mir Nagman Ali and Gulfashan Ansari appeared for the Convict.

Additional Public Prosecutor HD Futane represented the State.

Advocate Smita Deshpande was appointed for representing the Victim.

Case Title: Rahul Lahase vs State of Maharashtra (Criminal Appeal 84 of 2022)

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