The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an American woman’s plea challenging the Delhi High Court judgment acquitting Mahmood Farooqui, filmmaker of “Peepli Live”, in an alleged rape case filed by her.
The top court rejected the 30-year-old research scholar’s plea, saying it would not interfere with the high court’s “well-written judgment”.

“We are not satisfied. We will not interfere with the high court verdict. It is a well-written judgment,” the apex court Bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao reportedly told the petitioner’s counsel Vrinda Grover.

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The apex court said they were “good friends” and that she had even expressed her “love” to him even after the alleged incident. It said the woman appeared to have responded in a “positive manner” when they had met on the day of alleged incident. It asked the counsel, “How many rape cases you have gone through where the prosecutrix has said ‘I love you’ to the alleged accused much after the alleged incident.”
Grover told the Bench that the matter was related to “forced oral sex” and the woman had not given her consent.

She said the argument of alleged consensual relation was brought by Farooqui’s lawyer before the high court for the first time, which was not raised before the trial court. The Bench, however, observed that it was not a case where strangers came, met and did something. “It is a case of relationship. They were known to each other,” the Bench said, adding, “This is a very hard case. We would like to say that it has been decided extremely well (by the high court). It is not a case which can be decided easily”. Grover contended that the woman had said “no” to Farooqui’s advance towards her. “But initially ‘yes’.

There appeared to be a positive response by her which according to her was faked. People give false smiles. How would the other person know it is a false response. This is very difficult to understand,” the Bench said, adding that the high court had also said that it was not reflected that she was saying “no”.The woman’s counsel said during the alleged incident she was afraid that “something bad” would happen with her as he had become forcefull. The court also referred to a document in which the woman had said that she and Farooqui had exchanged kiss.

The counsel said it was prior to the alleged incident and that “consent must be appreciated in terms of the incident in question and not prior intimacy”, arguing that “refusal was clear in this case”. The Bench however dismissed the plea, saying it would not interfere with the high court’s verdict and that no question of law was involved in the matter.

The high court had acquitted Farooqui last year, saying it remained doubtful whether any rape incident took place. Farooqui had been in Tihar prison then.