Vishnu Tiwari, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, was first arrested two decades ago in 2000 and booked for rape and atrocities under the SC/ST act after a girl from his village alleged that Tiwari had raped her. She claimed that he had assaulted her when she was going from her home to work in the fields.
According to the FIR, the girl was on her way to give lunch to her father-in-law when Tiwari grabbed her and sexually assaulted her. In 2003, the Lalitpur court convicted Tiwari and sentenced him to 10-years of imprisonment. He was further convicted under the SC/ST act and sentenced to life imprisonment.
On Wednesday, Tiwari, 43, was finally released from the Agra Central Jail and walked out as a free man after spending 20 years of incarceration. He came out of the prison gates holding his release order in his hands. He told the media that he has no expectations from life after his 20 years prison term. "I have been in jail for 20 years... what should I look forward to? My body is broken and so is my family. I only have a younger brother. I am not married. Look at my hands... there are blisters from working in the jail kitchen," he told NDTV.
The Allahabad High Court, in January, acquitted him, observing that the available medical evidence showed that no signs of forcible sexual intercourse were found. The court also noted that there were contradictions in the girl’s testimony and there were other motives as well. Apparently, there was a land dispute between Vishnu’s family and the girl’s family.
A division bench of Justices Dr. Kaushal Jayendra Thaker and Gautam Chowdhary observed that even after 14 years in Jail, the State did not think about the commutation. “We are pained to mention that even after 14 years of incarceration, the State did not think of exercising its power for commutation of the sentence of life imprisonment of the present accused. His case should have been considered but has not been considered," the court said.
(With inputs from NDTV)
