Mangaluru court acquits man accused of raping woman and attempting religious conversion

A Mangaluru court has acquitted a person charged with raping a Christian woman by taking her to several places and attempting to convert her to Islam, while taking exception to the victim’s family’s abuse of the process of police machinery to get the complaint investigated.

The second Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mangaluru, V.N. Jagadeesh, on March 16, acquitted, Hidayath alias Abdulla, 42, a resident of Machi village of Bantwal taluk, of offences under Sections 143, 120(B), 366, 420, 368 read with Section 149 of Indian Penal Code.