Mahmood Farooqui Acquitted by Delhi HC in 2015 Rape Case

Mahmood Farooqui, co-director of ‘Peepli Live’, was accused of rape by a US-based researcher in 2015.

Mahmood Farooqui.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook / The Vindicate India)

Co-director of ‘Peepli Live’ Mahmood Farooqui was acquitted by the Delhi High Court in a March 2015 rape case, on 25 September. The court acquitted him saying that he was entitled to benefit of doubt as the testimony of the victim was not reliable, reported PTI.

Justice Ashutosh Kumar has set aside the trial court order which had awarded a seven-year jail term to Farooqui after convicting him in August 2016, reported PTI. The High Court, in its 85-page judgement, directed that Farooqui, who is presently in jail, be released forthwith.

"Whether such an incident happened, if it has happened, it did happen with the consent of the prosecutrix. This remains in doubt," the court said.

Also Read: Anatomy of a Rape Trial: A Timeline of Mahmood Farooqui Rape Case

Farooqui had been convicted on 4 August 2016 of raping a 30-year-old American researcher in his south Delhi residence in March 2015. Thereafter, the filmmaker had challenged his conviction and the sentence given by the trial court.

During the arguments, Farooqui's lawyer had denied the allegation of rape levelled by the woman and said "no such incident took place on that day".

His counsel had referred to messages exchanged between his client and the woman before the lodging of the case, and contended that the two were in a “relationship” since January 2015.

"In a relationship when people are attracted to each other, things do happen. But it does not mean it's rape," he had said, adding that the "woman's version is also contradictory to the documentary evidence.”

This argument was opposed by the Delhi Police's counsel, who had said that rape had taken place, and the trial court had given reasons while convicting and sentencing 45-year-old Farooqui.

A trial court had on 4 August 2016 sent him to jail for seven years, observing that he had taken advantage of the situation when the victim was alone in his house.

The court, which on 30 July 2016 had held Farooqui guilty of raping the American woman in 2015 in a drunken state, had also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him. The police had on 19 June 2015 lodged the FIR against Farooqui on the woman's complaint after which he was arrested.

On 29 July 2015, the police had filed its chargesheet against Farooqui, alleging that he had raped the research scholar from Columbia University at his Sukhdev Vihar house in South Delhi, on 28 March 2015.

(With inputs from PTI.)