Man, 27, rebuilds his life after serving seven months in jail on false rape and blackmail charges



Wrongfully accused: Rakesh Kumar spent seven months in jail on false charges of rape and blackmail

Rakesh Kumar, 27, spent over seven months in jail for a crime he never committed.



Facing charges of rape and blackmailing a family friend, he was tortured in custody. Meanwhile, he lost his job with a national media company.



The humiliation drove his mother to a grave illness and she now remains bed-ridden.



Earlier this week, a Delhi court finally acquitted Kumar of all charges.

Kumar's is yet another example of the rise in false rape and sexual assault cases registered by women across the Capital, particularly since the rape laws were made stronger last year.



Kumar was accused of repeatedly raping and blackmailing a family friend. In her complaint, the girl said that Kumar had taken her to a hotel in Laxmi Nagar, laced her soft drink with sedatives and raped her.



According to her complaint, he also filmed the incident on his mobile phone and used the same to blackmail her into not telling anyone about it.

He then also forced her to accompany him to the same hotel where he raped her again, she had alleged, adding that this continued till she got married and then approached the police with her husband's help.



During the trial, the court observed after taking note of the FSL report that Kumar's phone did not even have a recording facility.



"Further, on cross questioning, most prosecution witnesses and evidences began falling apart," Kumar's counsel senior advocate Rajiv Taneja said.



Additional Sessions Judge Kaweri Baweja, who was presiding over the matter, also ruled that the girl's testimony "was not credible and could not be used as the basis to convict the accused for the alleged offences".



Kumar, who now makes ends meet by running a small business and taking care of his mother, said: "I was friends with one of her sisters and would visit her house often.



"Her mother was also fond of me and considered me as family. The girl and I developed a consensual relationship eventually but once she got married she decided to turn against me and implicate me.

