NEW DELHI, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Delhi high court Monday acquitted Mahmood Farooqui, a film director, of a rape case, officials said.
The high court set aside a trial court order that handed him seven-year jail term for allegedly raping a U.S. researcher.
Farooqui is currently undergoing a jail term at New Delhi's Tihar jail.
"The court has directed that Farooqui be released forthwith," a court official said.
In July this year a local court convicted Farooqui of raping a 30-year-old researcher from the United States.
The researcher from Columbia University last year filed a rape case against the filmmaker, saying he sexually assaulted her at his house in south Delhi last year, when she had gone to get his help for her research work.
Farooqui co-directed a known film "Peepli Live" along with his wife Anusha Rizvi. The film depicted problems of farmers in India and was centered around the theme of farmer suicides and the subsequent media and political response. The film was acclaimed internationally.
Farooqui had denied the allegations, saying he was falsely implicated.
India introduced tough new anti-rape laws after the December 2002 fatal gang-rape of a medical student in New Delhi, which brought spotlight on crimes against women in the country.
As per new law, the punishment for rape is a minimum jail term of seven years and in extreme cases may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.
