Delhi High Court acquitted a man in a rape case on this ground, he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment

The Delhi High Court has said that DNA report only proves paternity, not lack of consent. With this, the court acquitted a man who was sentenced to 10 years in jail for the crime of rape. Justice Amit Mahajan said that even though the DNA report proved that the accused is the biological father of the child born from the womb of the woman, pregnancy alone is 'not enough' to prove the crime of rape, unless it is also proved that the relationship was made without consent.

'DNA report only proves paternity'

In its judgment passed on March 20, the High Court said, 'The DNA report only proves paternity. It does not and cannot prove the lack of consent. It is a well-known law that the conviction of the crime under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC rests on the lack of consent.' According to the judgment, the circumstances surrounding the incident have made the prosecution's case 'highly unlikely'. Justice Mahajan also did not rule out the possibility in the judgment that the FIR lodged late without any explanation could be the 'result of social pressure'.

'Doubts remain due to lack of evidence'

Justice Mahajan said, 'The possibility cannot be ruled out that the allegations were made to establish the consensual relationship as rape, so that the woman making the allegations and her family do not have to face the taunts of society.' Justice Mahajan said that the petitioner should get the benefit of doubt in the case. He said, 'The law of course does not consider mere silence as consent. But it also does not convict in the absence of evidence beyond reasonable doubt. Doubt remains in this case, not due to speculation, but due to lack of evidence.'

'He called her to his house on the pretext of playing Ludo and raped her'

The High Court said that during the trial, not only contradictions were found in the statements of the woman, but medical and forensic evidence was also not found to confirm the rape. The woman had alleged that the youth living in her neighborhood called her to his house on the pretext of playing Ludo and raped her several times. The woman claimed that she later came to know that she was pregnant. An FIR was registered against the youth in January 2018 and in December 2022, the court convicted him and sentenced him to 10 years in jail. The youth challenged his sentence on the ground that he had sex with the woman with her consent.

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