Lucknow, Dec 17 (IANS): The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has set aside the conviction of a man in a 26-year-old rape case after putting a questioning mark on the testimony of the rape survivor.

The court has directed his release from prison.

The bench of Justice Karunesh Singh Pawar held that the credibility of the survivor’s testimony was “shaky and unreliable” and that the girl was a “consenting party”.

The bench highlighted the absence of evidence regarding her age beyond the medical report, which confirmed she was above 16.

In this regard, the court noted that as per the unamended Indian Penal Code, at that time in 1997, the age of consent for sexual intercourse was 16 years.

On January 16, 1997, a complaint was made to Lucknow Police by the girl’s father, alleging that the accused, Lalla, had taken away his daughter and her whereabouts were not known. She was recovered on January 27, 1997, and an FIR was lodged against Lalla for rape.

Following a trial, the accused was convicted under section 376 (rape) of IPC. He later moved the HC challenging his conviction.

Keeping in view the facts, circumstances and evidence put forth, the HC bench noted that the survivor was recovered 13 days later and at no point did she raise any alarm.

The court also factored into account that no corroborative material had been found by the doctor in the medical examination report, which showed that she was habitual in sexual intercourse.

The court noted that during cross-examination, she claimed she went willingly with the appellant.