6 acquitted in TISS rape case

MUMBAI: A sessions judge at the fast-track court in Sewri on Wednesday acquitted all six students accused of gang raping a 23-year-old US national studying at Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in April last year.
The judge ruled he had to acquit them as he did not find the alleged victim to be a wholly reliable witness and there was an ‘‘absence of satisfactory and supporting’’ evidence to corroborate her claims.
When the allegation was made, the six accused were all college students, except for Kundan Raj Borgohain, who had graduated recently. The others were Vinamra Soni, Harshvardhan Yadav, Jash-karan ‘Karan’ Bhullar, Anish Borkataki and Dev Colabawala. They were then 21 to 23 years old.
All six broke into tears when the judge pronounced the ‘‘not guilty’’ verdict at 3.45pm and fell at the feet of their respective lawyers. The parents of all six also had tears in their eyes and thanked the lawyers with folded hands.
Judge S D Jagmalani, who tried the case in-camera, held that the prosecution had been unable to established its case beyond reasonable doubt. The judge also held that medical evidence of rape was negative. ‘‘The victim’s evidence does not inspire confidence and as such her uncorroborated version could not form a basis of conviction. Because when two views are possible, the one which is favouring the accused is to be accepted. And benefit of doubt is to be extended to the accused,’’ the judge ruled. Public prosecutor P G Pagar had basically argued that, according to the Supreme Court, the uncorroborated statements of victims can form the basis of conviction.
The complainant had said that a hostel mate, Annie Brown, and Soni, Yadav, Bhullar, Borkataki and Colabawala had been to Caf XO, Govandi, that night where she was pressured to have drinks.
Brown left at 1am, after which the complainant said she had to go to Club Bling, Andheri (West), to meet a friend. However, the youths took her to Borgohain’s Versova flat, where the drinking resumed and she lost consciousness. When she came to the next day, the woman alleged she had been raped and the youths even bought her a contraceptive.
The six had been charged under Section 376 (g) of the IPC for gang rape and Section 34 for common intent.