The court had sentenced a 100-year-old woman to life imprisonment in a rape case, but the HC freed her; know the whole case – hindustannewshub.com

The Allahabad High Court has acquitted a 32-year-old man who was convicted of raping and attempting to murder a 100-year-old woman at her residence in Meerut in 2017. The sessions court had sentenced the man to life imprisonment in 2020. The woman’s grandson had filed a police complaint that on the night of October 29, 2017, after hearing her cries for help, he and his family members rushed to her room and saw Ankit Punia running away.

The complainant had claimed that at that time, the woman, who was bedridden for the past one year, was unwell and was rushed to a hospital, where she died the next day. Punia was booked on several charges, including murder, attempt to rape and house trespass.

Since the victim was a Dalit, the police registered a case against him under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Punia was arrested and sent to jail and on 20 November 2020, a Meerut court sentenced him to life imprisonment. He later filed an appeal against the order.

According to the high court order, during the hearing of the appeal, Punia’s lawyer argued that the woman’s grandson had falsely implicated his client to avoid repaying the loan and get financial aid from the government. The lawyer also pointed out that there was no independent witness or eyewitness in the case.

The court said in its order that the complainant has admitted that he was living with his wife in Ghaziabad at the time of the incident. This means that he was not an eyewitness. Therefore, the statements of the complainant and his wife, who also appeared as a witness, were considered unreliable. The court freed the accused.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}