He was in the dock for allegedly raping and impregnating a woman. But the victim came to his rescue after he married her. The sessions court acquitted Shah Mohammed Makrani on Monday for want of evidence.
Makrani, 28, was in trouble about six months ago when the 20-year-old victim deposed against him in court, narrating a tale of recurring forced intercourses made over a month. However, on December 17, a week before the next date of hearing in court,Makrani married her in the family court at Bandra.
The woman, who delivered a baby boy in 2007, retracted her statement on December 24, and told the court that she was a consensual partner in the sexual intercourse. She went to the extent of deposing that she had made the complaint because Makrani was not marrying her.
She produced a copy of her marriage certificate in court and said she was taking her child home that very day. She clarified further that she was not making a statement against the prosecution’s case under anybody’s influence.
Following her statement, additional public prosecutor Usha Kiran Makasare just examined the investigating officer and closed the case. “I am happy that a helpless girl like her has been married off and given shelter,” Makasare said.
Considering the evidence at hand, fifth ad-hoc additional sessions judge, SR Malpani-Pawar acquittedMakrani.
On June 16, the girl had deposed that she ran away from her house in Benaras, Uttar Pradesh, and came to Mumbai. She had been staying in a slum near Bandra Terminus, working as a maid servant, when she met Makrani, an autorickshaw driver.
Makrani had allegedly told her that he would marry her, and “raped” her repeatedly in his friend’s room. In three months, she had realised that she was pregnant.
She had thought of aborting the child, but there was no money to buy the pills. She had asked Makrani to marry her, but he refused. As a last resort, she had tried to commit suicide at Bandra Terminus, but a social worker stopped her took her to the police station.
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