Survivor’s claim carries ‘inbuilt assurance’ in Indian society: Chhattisgarh High Court backs life term in POCSO case

“A girl or a woman in the tradition-bound nonpermissive society of India would be extremely reluctant even to admit that any incident which is likely to reflect on her chastity had ever occurred. She would be conscious of the danger of being ostracised by society, and when, in the face of these factors, the crime is brought to light, there is an inbuilt assurance that the charge is genuine rather than fabricated,” the April 13 order read.

‘Victim, not accomplice’

• The Chhattisgarh High Court pointed out that a woman or a girl who is raped cannot be put on par with an accomplice. She is, in fact, a victim of the crime.
• If the totality of the circumstances appearing on the record of the case discloses that the survivor does not have a strong motive to falsely implicate the person charged, the court should ordinarily have no hesitation in accepting her evidence.
• It was emphasised that “corroboration is not the sine qua non for conviction” in a rape case.
• The Chhattisgarh High Court stated that in the same manner that a witness who has sustained an injury – which is not shown or believed to be self-inflicted – is the best witness, in the sense that he is least likely to exculpate the real offender, the evidence of a victim of a sex offence is entitled to great weight, the absence of corroboration notwithstanding.
• The high court held that the trial court had rightly convicted and sentenced the appellant for the crime, and that there was no illegality or irregularity in the findings recorded.
• The court pointed out that it is necessary to be conscious of the fact that it is dealing with the evidence of a person who is interested in the outcome of the charge levelled by her.
• · If the court keeps this in mind and feels satisfied that it can act on the evidence of the victim, there is no rule of law or practice incorporated in the Indian Evidence Act, which requires it to look for corroboration, the court added.

Went missing at night

• The prosecution’s story was that in March 2023, the minor’s grandmother, who worked as a daily wage labourer, filed a complaint of kidnapping, stating that her 3-year-old granddaughter missing in the middle of the night.
• During the investigation, the minor was found, and she, in her statement, revealed that the accused took her to the fields and sexually assaulted her.
• However, the accused denied the alleged offence, and in his statement, he claimed innocence and said that he was falsely implicated
• The trial court, in September 2023, convicted the accused for the offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life till natural death.

‘Trial court stretched imagination’

• Appearing for the accused, advocate C K Sahu argued that the said judgment of conviction and the order of sentence passed by the trial court were bad in law and on the facts.
• He also contended that the accused had been falsely implicated in the crime in question and that the trial court had stretched its imagination to a great extent beyond what is permissible under the law in convicting.
• He added that there is no evidence against the appellant, and the case of the prosecution is based on surmises and hence, the appeal deserves to be allowed and his client acquitted.
• He further submitted that the trial court has erred in believing the statement of the complainant, as there are a large number of contradictions among the statements of the prosecution witnesses.
• Representing the state, advocate Saurabh Sahu opposed the submissions made by the accused’s counsel and submitted that the trial court had rightly convicted and sentenced him, which requires no interference by the Chhattisgarh High Court.