Supreme Court Acquits Two Men in Rape Case, Cites Major Inconsistencies and Reasonable Doubt
In the case Batlanki Keshav (Kesava) Kumar Anurag vs. State of Telangana (2025 INSC 790), the Supreme Court acquitted two men accused of rape, citing serious inconsistencies in the prosecution’s narrative and a lack of credible evidence. The appellants were previously convicted of abduction and rape, while two co-accused were convicted for abduction alone. Appeals were filed by all four accused; the co-accused were acquitted earlier.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice K. Vinod Chandran found the testimony of prosecution witnesses (PW2 and PW3) to be unreliable, noting that the story was "full of holes" and raised "grave suspicion" amounting to reasonable doubt.
The case involved two women (sisters-in-law) who left their homes after a family dispute and boarded a tempo with their child. They claimed the accused abducted and raped them. However, the Court found contradictions in their account, such as no mention of the child's whereabouts during the alleged assault, no identification of the accused by an eyewitness (PW4), and unverified claims about their stay in Parbhani for 15 days.
The Bench emphasized that the prosecution failed to call key witnesses like the husbands or mother-in-law and noted inconsistencies in the timeline. The medical report, conducted within 15 days of the alleged incident, also found no signs of forced intercourse.
