No Father Would Falsely Accuse An Innocent Person Of Committing Rape On Mentally Unsound Minor Daughter: Jammu & Kashmir High Court

A bench of Justices Rajnesh Oswal and Moksha Khajuria Kazmi was hearing an appeal against the judgment passed by the Additional Sessions Judge which convicted the appellant for the commission of offences under Sections 363 and 376 RPC. 

“The father is a guardian and protector of his minor children and he makes every effort to protect his minor children from the vagaries of life. No father would falsely implicate any innocent person on the allegation that he committed rape upon his minor daughter, who is mentally unsound, thereby putting the honour and dignity of his daughter as well as of his family at stake.”

On May 25, 2008, the accused was alleged to have raped a mentally unsound minor girl. The victim, a 10-year-old girl, had gone to her maternal grandfather's house but did not return home. Her father finally found her in a distressed state under a culvert. He witnessed the accused sexually assaulting his daughter, which prompted him to immediately report the incident to the police.

During the trial, the victim provided her testimony, which, although incoherent at times, contained essential details of the incident. Additionally, the court considered medical evidence that revealed injuries to the victim's private parts and the presence of semen on her clothing and accordingly convicted the appellant.

Assailing the conviction, the appellant argued that a bare perusal of the statement of the prosecutrix would reveal that she was of unsound mind and in view of her incoherent statement, the same could not have been relied upon by the trial court for convicting the appellant. He further submitted that there are material contradictions between the statement of the father of the prosecutrix and the statement of other prosecution witnesses.

Upon examining the evidence, the bench observed that the victim, due to her mental condition, may not provide testimony in the same manner as someone of sound mind. The court acknowledged that the prosecutrix's statement was relevant, even though it did not explicitly state rape and affirmed that the absence of a detailed narration was not unexpected given her disability.

“Though she has not categorically stated that the appellant raped her but this court does not expect the narration of detailed occurrence from her as she is of unsound mind. Also this court finds that the prosecutrix was not tutored particularly in view of replies made by her during cross-examination. It is settled law that even in absence of the statement of the prosecutrix, who because of any disability is not in a position to depose in a proper manner, the accused still can be convicted for the commission of offence of rape”, the court maintained.

The court found no merit in the argument that the case was a result of a quarrel between the accused and the victim's family, emphasising that a motive as trivial as a cricket match dispute was unlikely to lead to false accusations of such a grave crime.

“The evidence led by the defence is not of such nature and character that raises any doubt about the truthfulness of the prosecution case. As such, this Court does not find that the evidence has not been properly appreciated by the learned trial court”, the court concluded while dismissing the appeal.

Case Title: Nikhil Sharma Vs State of J&K and others

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 248

Case No: CRA No. 20/2014 c/w Conf No. 9/2014

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