Five of family acquitted in gangrape case

New Delhi: A Delhi court has acquitted a man, his parents and two sisters in a case of gangrape and assault of his wife after the victim turned hostile, saying it was futile to carry on the trial in the case.

Additional Sessions judge Virender Bhat let off the five members of a south-west Delhi-based family of the charges after noting the women's submission before him, in which she had said that only a quarrel and a verbal altercation had taken place between her and her in-laws and the present complaint was filed by her lawyer without her consent.

"Since the star witness woman has not supported the case of the prosecution and there being no other eyewitness to the incident, it was found futile to carry on trial of the case any further," the court said, while acquitting all the five accused.

According to the prosecution, the woman's husband and her father-in-law had allegedly gangraped her with the help of her other relatives after locking her in a room on November 30, 2014. She had also alleged that they beat her up, outraged her modesty and tried to strangulate her.

On her complaint, a case was registered and later a charge-sheet was filed under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (wrongfully confining any person), 354 (assault or use of criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 376D (gangrape) of the IPC.

All the accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges framed against them.