Huge sigh of relief for Mahmood Farooqui as Delhi High Court clears the director hearing "benefit of doubt. High Court on Monday announced their judgement of the following rape case, observing that there were doubts over the claim of the US-based researcher that he had oral sex with her without her consent.

Justice Ashutosh Kumar in his ruling said,"No may not always mean no, adding that there were examples of "woman's behaviour (where) a casual 'no' may mean a 'yes' in cases of past intimacy." The 35-year-old woman had alleged Mahmood Farooqui claiming that the director had raped her at his Delhi residence on March 28, 2015.

A fast-track court had last year sentenced Farooqui to a 7-year jail term. The HC's order revolved around the question of consent. Later it was discovered the claim of rape is unreliable, noting the woman had faked an orgasm during the alleged crime, justifying it on the grounds that she feared violence similar to Nirbhaya's if she resisted. "In an act of passion, actuated by libido, there could be myriad circumstances which can surround a consent and it may not necessarily always mean yes in case of yes or no in case of no," the judge held.

In the judgment, the high court also took into account factors such as past intimacy between Farooqui and the woman, noting that they had kissed twice in the past. It remains in doubt, the court said, "as to whether such an incident (the rape)... took place, and if at all it had taken place, (whether) it was without her consent, and if it was without her consent, whether the appellant could discern/understand the same."

Advocate Vrinda Grover representative lawyer of the US woman said that they will appeal against the HC order. She further said that Grover had claimed on March 30, 2015, that Farooqui, in his email reply to the woman, had admitted the crime and apologised to her for having committed the act without her consent and against her will.