US Researcher Rape Case: Court Acquits Peepli Live Co-director Mahmood Farooqui!
Delhi High Court acquits Peepli Live co-director in the US researcher rape case. The Court gave him the benefit of the doubt & laid out clear terms for consent.
Peepli
Live
co-director
Mahmood
Farooqui
gets
relief
as
the
Delhi
High
Court
acquitted
him
in
the
US
researcher
rape
case
citing
doubts
whether
such
incident
really
took
place
and
gave
him
the
benefit
of
the
doubt.
The
Court
in
its
ruling
came
out
in
favour
of
the
accused
and
said
in
it's
statement,
"It
remains
in
doubt
whether
such
an
incident,
as
has
been
narrated...
took
place,
and
if
at
all
it
had
taken
place,
it
was
without
the
consent/will
of
the
prosecutrix
(the
woman),
and
if
it
was
without
the
consent...
whether
the
appellant
(Farooqui)
could
discern/understand
the
same."
Mahmood
Farooqui's
wife
Anusha
Rizvi
told
The
Indian
Express
that
she
was
"very
relieved" and
also
praised
the
judicial
system
by
saying,
"Vindicated...
victory
of
truth.
I
am
grateful
to
judiciary,
legal
team."
Justice
Ashutosh
Kumar,
gave
out
the
verdict
by
saying,
"Consent
does
not
merely
mean
hesitation
or
reluctance
or
a
'no'
to
any
sexual
advances,
but
has
to
be
an
affirmative
one
in
clear
terms.
In
such
cases,
it
would
be
really
difficult
to
decipher
whether
little
or
no
resistance
and
a
feeble
'no'
was
actually
a
denial
of
consent."
"The
questions
that
arise
are
whether
or
not
there
was
consent;
whether
the
appellant
mistakenly
accepted
the
moves
of
the
prosecutrix
as
consent;
whether
the
feelings
of
the
prosecutrix
could
be
effectively
communicated
and
whether
mistaking
all
this
for
consent
by
the
appellant
is
genuine
or
only
a
ruse
for
his
defence," the
judge
said
adding,
"at
what
point
of
time
and
for
what
particular
move,
the
appellant
did
not
have
the
consent
is
not
known."