Delhi High Court upholds order rejecting rape case against BJP's Shahnawaz Hussain

The Delhi High Court has upheld the order of a sessions court to close the rape case against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain [P (Complainant) v State of NCT of Delhi & Anr]..In an order passed on August 2, Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said that oral, documentary, and scientific evidence rule out the possibility that Hussain intoxicated and raped the woman.“In the present case, the overwhelming independent ocular, documentary and scientific evidence collected during the investigations, whereby the presence of the respondent no.2 and complainant on the date of the alleged incident at the place of alleged incident i.e. Sharma Farmhouse is completely ruled out, the possibility of the commission of alleged offence is rendered zilch. Hence, conclusion of the learned Additional Sessions Judge in accepting the Cancellation Report has to be upheld,” the Court said.It, therefore, accepted the stand of Delhi Police that no rape case was made out against Hussain and upheld the order passed by the Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) in this regard.“In view of the foregoing discussions, there is no infirmity in the impugned order dated 16.12.2023 and the revision petition is hereby dismissed,” Justice Krishna ruled..The complainant-woman had accused Hussain of taking her to his farmhouse, intoxicating her and raping her. It was also alleged that he made a video of the act and threatened her with dire consequences if she disclosed the incident to anyone.It was the complainant's case that the FIR was registered only after the intervention of the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.A Magistrate Court had in October 2023 refused to accept the cancellation report filed by the Delhi Police in the case and instead issued summons to Hussain.Hussain the approached the Sessions Court against this order. The ASJ first stayed the summoning order and then quashed it.The complainant then approached the High Court against the same..The complainant woman was represented through advocates Prabhoo Dayal Tiwari, Ajay Tiwari, Asif Iqbal, Unnati Agarwal, Ziaul Haq, Heena, Taran Jain, Asiph Shahid Ali, Shiwani Bhargava, Sakshi Bhayana, Akash Awana and Aadesh Taneja.Additional Public Prosecutor Amit Ahlawat appeared for the Delhi Police..[Read Judgment]