Mumbai The Bombay high court on Wednesday granted bail to a rape accused after the survivor confessed that she was in fact in an extra-marital relationship with the man, a Kandivali resident, and had lodged the police complaint against him only to save her second marriage.
Kandivali police had on January 27, 2021, registered a case of rape against Ajit Dasana, based on the woman’s complaint. At the time, the complainant had claimed that the incident occurred late in the evening of January 20, when she was returning home from her husband’s catering shop on the bike of the accused. The accused is an acquaintance of the couple.
She claimed, on the way the accused diverted the vehicle away from the road and stopped at a secluded spot where he forced himself upon her. On reaching home, when her husband enquired about the delay, she told him that it was caused as Dasana wanted to fill petrol in his bike.
A week later, she revealed to her husband that the accused had sexually assaulted her. He was arrested the next day – on January 28.
Though the woman reiterated her stand in her statement recorded before a metropolitan magistrate court under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, she revealed the truth in an application filed before the high court, which was hearing the bail plea of the accused.
In her plea, she revealed that on January 20, after her husband had finished work at around 11.30 pm, he loaded a tempo with kitchen paraphernalia and since there was no space for her to sit, he asked her to ride home with the accused on his bike.
She confessed that the two spent some time in private, before she reached home and that she had made the excuse of tanking up the bike as the reason for the delay. Her plea added that a few days later, her husband had started probing her about her relationship with the accused, having picked up gossip about them having an affair.
“Due to this she got very scared and with sole intention to save her marriage, lied to her husband that the applicant (accused) and she had no extra-marital affair and that on 20.02.2021 she reached home late, as he raped her (on their way),” stated her application.
“From reading of the application, it is apparent that complainant, in order to save the marriage, lied to her husband and the police officials and made accusations against the applicant,” said the single judge bench of justice Bharati Dangre while granting bail to the accused.
