NOIDA: A fast-track court has acquitted a Delhi-based HR manager accused of rape after the complainant retracted her allegations during trial, telling the court that the police had drafted the complaint themselves.Additional sessions judge Priyanka Singh also ordered proceedings against the woman under Section 344 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for filing a false case and giving false evidence.An FIR in the case was registered at the Phase III police station in Noida on March 25, last year. In her complaint, the woman alleged that her colleague, HR manager Karan Gujral, had first raped her in 2023 after allegedly mixing an intoxicant in her food and drink. She claimed that he repeatedly called her to a hotel and raped her for more than a year on the promise of marriage.According to the FIR, the two later married at a temple in Feb 2024 and began living together. The woman told police that she became pregnant in Nov but the accused later stopped responding to her calls. When she approached his family, she was allegedly told that he was already married.Police registered a case under IPC Section 376 and recorded her statement before a magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC. The accused was arrested on April 4, and the chargesheet was filed 10 days later. The case was subsequently transferred to a fast-track court for trial.However, the prosecution’s case weakened when the complainant took the witness stand. During her testimony, she contradicted the claims made in the FIR and said she had been working at the same company where the accused served as HR manager. She told the court that her job had not been regularised and she was upset about the delays in salary payments.The woman said that colleagues had advised her to approach the police. When she went to the station with company officials to complain about the salary dispute, she alleged, the police themselves drafted the FIR. She also told the court that the statements recorded before the magistrate had been made at the police’s behest.During cross-examination, she denied that the accused had called her to hotels or had sexual relations with her. She also admitted that she had never met him alone. The woman acknowledged that she was about six months pregnant when the FIR was filed, but said the child was not fathered by the accused.The prosecution declared her a hostile witness, but the court noted that her testimony substantially undermined the case.Medical evidence also failed to support the allegations. The doctor who examined the complainant testified that there were no visible injuries and no forensic indications of sexual assault. The court said the medical findings did not establish that the accused had forcibly raped the woman or administered any intoxicating substance.Referring to the Supreme Court’s ruling in State of Delhi vs Shriram Lohiya, the judge observed that statements recorded under Section 164 CrPC cannot be treated as substantive evidence unless corroborated by other material.The court therefore acquitted Gujral and directed that a separate case be initiated against the complainant for allegedly misusing legal provisions intended to protect women.
