2 Men Exonerated After 17 Years as SC Proves Girl Fakes Rape

The Supreme Court on Tuesday last acquitted two persons in a 2001 rape case that took place in industrial city of Faridabad in Haryana but not before one had served 10 years and the other 7 years in jail.

After years behind bars, Sham Singh , one of the two accused appealed in the SC against the concurrent judgments of a Faridabad trial court and the Punjab and Haryana high court convicting them.

A bench of Justices N V Ramana and Mohan M Shantanagoudar acquitted the two and said the offense of rape was not proved. However, it recorded, "The first accused Jai Singh has already served out the sentence imposed on him and the appellant Sham Singh has already served sentence of seven years out of the total of 10 years imposed on him."

Though the bench ordered immediate release of Sham Singh, it did not address the fact that the two spent their prime years in jail because of false charges. The incident dates back to August 22, 2001, when a minor girl alleged that the two brothers, who were her uncles, picked her up at night and raped her.

The accused told the court that one of them had slapped the girl for going around with a boy in the village and writing 'love letters'. They also said there was a village panchayat where he had apologised in writing for slapping the girl.