Delhi High Court frees 5 men, says false rape charges destroy lives

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'Just as rape causes great distress to the victim, a false charge destroys lives and damages reputation, the Delhi high court has said, acquitting five men who were jailed sixteen years ago on the charge of gangrape.

"There is no doubt that rape causes great distress and humiliation to the victim of rape but at the same time false allegation of committing a rape also causes humiliation and damage to the accused. An accused also has rights which are to be protected and the possibility of false implication has to be ruled out," a bench of Justices G S Sistani and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal noted in its verdict.

The court set aside the conviction of the five men after it found that the woman who had leveled the charge of being gang raped gave inconsistent statements in court and hid the fact she was in a relationship with one of the accused. "Her version has no correlation with other supporting material being medical, scientific and expert evidence," the bench observed.'