Court acquits husband accused of raping wife: Advocate Ravi Drall, Criminal Lawyer Rohini Court

“The mere statement of the prosecutrix, as noted above, that too made during her cross-examination, which is also very vague, in itself is not sufficient to bring home the charge under section 380 (Theft) IPC against the accused. The accused, therefore, also deserves to beacquitted of the charge u/s.380 IPC,” the court said in the order. The judge noted further in the order, “Prosecutrix herself has deposed that on 21.07.2014, her marriage was solemnised with the accused at Arya Samaj temple behind Tis Hazari Court and she also took seven rounds (saat phere) around the sacred fire in the presence of the priest.”

The court noted that the prosecutrix also filed on record photographs of the marriage ceremony. The court noted that taking seven rounds around the sacred fire is known as ‘Saptpadi’.

The court referred to Section 7 (2) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1956 which gives out the general provision for ‘Saptpadi ‘ wherein it stated that where rites and ceremonies include ‘Saptpadi’ as a ceremony, then the marriage shall be considered complete and valid upon the completion of seventh round around the holy fire. The judge observed, “Both the prosecutrix and the accused are admittedly Hindu by religion. As clear from the deposition of the prosecutrix herself, coupled with the photographs of the marriage ceremony filed by the prosecutrix herself, it is clear that they had undergone the ‘Saptpadi’ ceremony.”

It is not the case of the prosecutrix that the accused was already married when the above marriage ceremony took place between them on 21.07.2014, the court noted. The prosecutrix has also deposed that she had also taken divorce from her earlier husband before her marriage with t accused, it further noted.

“Thus, in the considered opinion of this Court as ‘both the prosecutrix and the accused belonged to Hindu religion and as they had performed ‘Saptpadil’ ceremony at the time of their marriage at Arya Samaj Temple on 21. 07. 2014, a legally valid marriage came into being between them as soon as the seventh round/step around the holy fire was completed,” ASJ Jagmohan Singh said. That being the case, the accused being the legally wedded husband of the prosecutrix was covered under ‘Exception 2’ to Section 375 IPC, as noted above. Hence, the accused deserves to be acquitted of the charge u/s.376 IPC, the judge said in the order.

During the trial, the judge mentioned that the prosecutrix and Trustee of the Arya Samaj temple believed that a marriage certificate issued by the temple was necessary for a legally valid marriage. The accused Gaurav Malik was represented by advocate Ravi Drall in this case.

The incident dates back to 2015 when a case involving rape and theft was reported at the police station in South Rohini. The prosecutrix alleged that in November 2013, she had encountered the accused, who ran a mobile shop in Sector 2, Rohini, when she had taken her phone for repair.

As per the prosecutrix, the accused began approaching and conversing with her regularly, initially discussing her mobile phone before eventually proposing to her, claiming to be in love and desiring to marry her. Feeling emotionally vulnerable after recently divorcing her husband, she alleged that the accused took advantage of her vulnerable state and offered moral support.

Subsequently, on July 21, 2014, the two went to the Arya Samaj Mandir, where the accused had her sign some documents and assured her that their marriage had been officially registered. They later started living together. However, when she requested to see the marriage certificate, the accused dismissed her distrust. Additionally, she claimed that the accused’s family members contacted and threatened her over the phone.

The accused also told her that he also received calls from them that they would not spare him as they had performed marriage against their wishes, she claimed.