Mumbai: `Rape victim' tells court accused is her husband

A supposed victim of rape has turned the police's case on its head by stating that she had been happily married to the accused when he was booked.

She further told the court last week that she still wished to stay with the accused, but feared that her parents would kill her.  Sadam Hussain (21) was arrested by Turbhe police on December 12, 2010 for allegedly raping the girl. He was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in July this year.

But when the trial started, the 19-year-old victim, during her deposition, told the sessions court in neighbouring Thane that her parents had earlier given consent to her marriage to the accused, but asked her not to return home.

"After the marriage in November 2010, I stayed with my husband, and after one and half months my father came there with the police," she said. She was then brought to Mumbai, and sent to a remand home, as she did not want to stay with the parents.

During the cross-examination by Hussain's lawyer, advocate Amit Munde, the victim also said that when Hussain was in the jail, she had written to him several times.

"When I was produced before the magistrate (after Hussain's arrest) I had requested that I wanted to live with the accused and not with my parents", she told the court.

"Even today, I wish to live with the accused as his wife. I fear that I would be killed if I go with him, as my father and brother have threatened," she told the court.

The trial is yet to conclude.