'Love Letters Sent By Victim To Accused Are 'Pure Reflections' Of Her Feelings': HP High Court Upholds Acquittal In Rape Case

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has dismissed an appeal filed by the State challenging the acquittal of the person who was punished for offences under Sections 504, 506, 376 of the Indian Penal Code, read with Section 3(i)(xii) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The Court held that even though in cases of rape, the evidence by the victim must be given predominant consideration, it cannot be believed if the testimony of the victim is inconsistent and contradictory to the record.

After going through the evidence on record Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Sushil Kureja Noted that: “The perusal of love letters, nowhere reflects that the same were written by the prosecutrix under any kind of pressure. In fact, these letters are pure reflection of feelings of the prosecutrix towards the accused”.

The victim contended that in the year 2011, the accused committed forcible sexual intercourse with her on three different occasions. Further stating that the accused even threatened to take away her life and had even used caste-based remarks against her and her family members.

After going through the facts of the case, the court noted that even though the victim had made the allegation of rape against the accused, however, there was no evidence to prove the allegation.

Further, the court observed that during the testimony, the victim kept changing her stand. She alleged that the accused had raped her thrice, but she could not narrate any dates of when she was raped or the month or the year.

Further, the perusal of love letters did not show that she wrote them under any kind of pressure. However, the letters showed pure reflection of feelings of the victim towards the accused.

Thus, the Court upheld the acquittal of the accused and concluded that the statement of the victim cannot be believed as she repeatedly changed her stand.

Case Name: State of H.P. v/s Mam Raj

Case No.: Cr. Appeal No. 266 of 2015

Date of Decision: 29.08.2025

For the appellant: Mr. I.N. Mehta, Senior Additional Advocate General.

For the Respondents: Ms. Upasana Thakur, Advocate, vice Mr. Karan Singh Kanwar, Advocate.

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