‘Minor rape victim’s testimony credible, trustworthy’: Gujarat HC dismisses plea against conviction by accused
The appellant accused was convicted under the Indian Penal Code Sections for kidnapping and rape as the crime happened before the enforcement of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
5 min readVadodaraUpdated: Jan 25, 2026 02:02 PM IST
The HC noted the submissions of the advocate appearing for the appellant accused, which contended that the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt as it “rested its case mainly upon the evidence of the victim...”.
HOLDING THAT the testimony of a minor victim of rape and sexual assault in 2012 – mainly relied upon by a trial court in convicting the accused in 2017 – was “credible and trustworthy”, the Gujarat High Court (HC) dismissed a man’s appeal against his conviction and sentencing to life imprisonment in the case.
A Division Bench of Justices Ilesh J Vora and R T Vachhani of the Gujarat HC was hearing an appeal against conviction filed by the sole accused in a 2012 rape case in Surat district, challenging the judgment of conviction and sentence passed by the Additional Sessions Judge in May 2017. The appellant accused was convicted under the Indian Penal Code Sections for kidnapping and rape as the crime happened before the enforcement of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
The case of the prosecution was that the accused kidnapped the child on the pretext of feeding her wafers and took her away into sugarcane fields, where he confined and raped her. The prosecution case was that the accused raped the victim and “abandoned” her at a “secluded place on the roadside of the village”. As per the testimonies of witnesses in the case, the girl was found by a farmer who was returning from the field and she was “bleeding from the private parts”.
A total of 14 prosecution witnesses were examined in the case, including the minor girl. The 29-page oral judgment of the Gujarat High Court noted that “while recording the conviction passing of the order of sentence, the trial court mainly relied on the testimony of the victim, supported by other evidence like medical etc… the trial court found the version of the victim credible, truthful, reliable and natural, which does not require further corroboration on the aspect of alleged rape and complicity of the accused in the crime.”
The HC noted the submissions of the advocate appearing for the appellant accused, which contended that the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt as it “rested its case mainly upon the evidence of the victim…”. The appellant accused submitted that the evidence put forth by the victim “is full of contradiction and improvement and she cannot be accepted as wholly reliable witness and considering her age, her evidence has to be subjected to close scrutiny and can be accepted if the Court comes to the conclusion that child understands the question put to her and she is capable of giving rational answers.”
Stating that the case was due to “animosity between the appellant accused and the victim’s father,” the advocate for the accused appellant submitted that the victim’s father, in his deposition, admitted that the victim did not disclose the incident or the name of the accused to her parents and it was the other witnesses who were instrumental in bringing her back. Calling the victim a “tutored witness”, the appellant accused submitted to the court that the victim “could not understand the meaning of intercourse which she had deposed in chief examination.”
The Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP), appearing for the state, opposed the appeal and submitted that the Test Identification parade had not been carried out in the case as the accused and the victim are from the same village. The judgment notes the submission of the APP in her testimony. the victim has “clearly described the incident and house she was sexually abused by the accused.”
Examining the principle of law dealing with the evidence of child witnesses and solitary evidence of victims of sexual offence, the HC referred to several decisions of the Supreme Court, including guidelines laid down for the evidence of child witness and test for passing tutored testimony. Stating that the testimony of the victim was taken as a competent witness recorded by the trial court, the HC judgment states, “We have closely scrutinized the evidence of (the minor victim)… We do not find any infirmity in the evidence of the victim about the factum of sexual assault and identity of the accused… the child was able to understand a question put to her and she was capable of giving rational answers…”
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Holding that the version of the victim about the incident is “credible, trustworthy and does inspire confidence”, the HC judgment states, “The victim was the sufferer and at the relevant time, she was in trauma… considering the attending circumstances, we do not find any ground or the reason that the victim was acting under the influence of someone and there is ring of truth in the version of the victim about the act of sexual assault…”
The HC also rejected the contention that the accused was falsely implicated by the victim’s father due to prior animosity. The judgment states, “…as the father (of the victim) has admitted in his deposition that prior to the incident, there was a dispute with the accused… In such circumstances, the possibility of animosity between the parties has not been established to the point that in order to take revenge, the accused was falsely implicated.”
Aditi Raja is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, stationed in Vadodara, Gujarat, with over 20 years in the field. She has been reporting from the region of Central Gujarat and Narmada district for this newspaper since 2013, which establishes her as a highly Authoritative and Trustworthy source on regional politics, administration, and critical socio-economic and environmental issues.
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