Biratnagar, February 14
The full text of the verdict to acquit controversial ascetic Krishna Bahadur Giri aka Siddhababa of a rape charge has come out last week, around two and a half months after the verdict.
In the verdict, the judge of the Sunsari District Court has interpreted the sexual intercourse between the alleged victim and the alleged as an act of consensus after she surrendered her body to him, hence not a rape.
The 75-page verdict concludes, “During a meeting between the complainant and the defendant, the complainant got hypnotised and submitted her body to him, hence the resultant intercourse is seen as a consensual one. Therefore, there is not a situation to consider it rape; the charge against the defendant is not established.”
Although Siddhababa had denied having sex with the victim in the court, the court, however, has accepted that they had intercourse.
In general, judges consider statements given by the alleged victims as a strong form of evidence as far as a rape charge is concerned, but this verdict has completely ignored the victim’s statement. Therefore, stakeholders including Attorney General Agni Prasad Kharel have also already questioned the judgement.
