Uttar Pradesh: Man, Convicted of Rape, Declared Not Guilty After Spending 20 Years in Jail
A man in Uttar Pradesh, who was convicted of rape, spent more than two decades in jail only to be found innocent.
Agra, March 2: A man in Uttar Pradesh, who was convicted of rape, spent more than two decades in jail only to be found innocent. Vishnu Tiwari was 23-year-old when a trial court found him guilty of raping a woman and sentenced him to life imprisonment. It happened in 2000. After 20 long years, the Allahabad High Court has declared Vishnu Tiwari innocent and he will be released from jail soon, Times of India reported. Hathras: Out on Bail, Rape Accused Shoots Victim's Father Dead.
Vishnu, a school dropout, lived in with his father and two brothers in Lalitpur village. He used to do odd jobs to help his family financially. In September 2000, a woman from Scheduled Caste, who lived in Silawan village, alleged that Vishnu had raped her. Police booked him for rape, criminal intimidation and sexual exploitation of an SC woman. A trial court found him guilty and he was awarded life imprisonment. Consensual Sex Between Live-in Partners Cannot Be Categorised As Rape if Man Fails To Keep Marriage Promise, Says Supreme Court.
Since Vishnu came from poor family, he could not afford hiring a lawyer. In 2005, he gathered his reserves challenged his convection. However, he did not get any relief. Even when his father died, he could not get permission to attend his last rites. He had not been able to attend his brothers’ funeral earlier. Finally, the State Legal Services Authority came to his rescue and the verdict was challenged in the Allahabad High Court last year.
According to the TOI report, on January 28 this year, a division bench of Justices Kaushal Jayendra Thaker and Gautam Chaudhary declared him innocent. The high court's judgment was based on the observations that the FIR had been lodged three days late and there were no injuries on the private parts of the woman. The judges also noted that there "was a motive on the part of complainant that there was land dispute between the parties".
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 02, 2021 03:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).