Panaji: The Bombay high court upheld the acquittal of Bhanwar Ghusulal Chouhan in the 2016 “spiritual healing” rape case involving a foreigner, after observing that the prosecution failed to explain the reason for the four-year delay in lodging the FIR.The high court also observed that the evidence brought on record was wholly insufficient to establish the charge of rape and said there was no reason to interfere with the trial court’s verdict.The state went in appeal to the high court against his acquittal by the trial court.The high court did not agree with the submission of the public prosecutor that the trial court ought to have convicted him solely on the testimony of the complainant.It observed the “unexplained delay of nearly four years in lodging the FIR” and also noted that the complainant’s version contained contradictions, and that she was not sure whether the respondent raped her. It also found there was no supporting evidence to prove the prosecution’s story.The woman and her friend met the accused while having tea in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, where he approached her with a leaflet of his ‘ashram’, and she then met him in Goa, where he explained his spiritual healing practices. When she was not interested, he went to her rented room and started repeating about the spiritual healing treatment, and then allegedly raped her.The trial court stated that there was no proper explanation as to why the FIR was lodged after a delay of four years. The high court stated that this was significant because the complainant admitted in her cross-examination that, after the incident, she came to India and also to Goa in April 2017, Jan 2018, and Oct 2019.The complainant stated that she met a lawyer at Rishikesh and, as per his legal advice, after informing the embassy, which asked her to lodge an FIR, the FIR was lodged. However, no evidence was produced by the complainant, the high court observed.
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