MUMBAI: They hit headlines with alarming regularity and shock society's collective conscience, but a couple of years later in majority of the cases the alleged rapist walks out a free man. A case that made most people cringe in 2009 when a daughter accused her father and his 'tantrik' guru of repeatedly raping her through nine years ended in an acquittal last year in the city. More recently, this week, a local court acquitted a pilot with a private airline in a case where he was accused of raping in 2010 his former air hostess in Mumbai. The court said there was no evidence of rape. And last week the Bombay high court cleared a man of rape charges after he had served five years rigorous imprisonment for "raping" his neighbour's wife in Ulhasnagar, a distant Mumbai suburb. The court found the victim's version and the case against him "improbable".
With acquittals greater than conviction, even while acknowledging that some are on merit, has however brought the many concerns of activists' over rape trials to the fore. Read more
Source : articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
