Mere Silence Can’t Be Taken As Proof Of Consensual Sexual Relations: Delhi HC [Read Judgment]

Mere silence cannot be taken as proof of consensual sexual relations, the Delhi High Court has held while upholding the conviction and 10-year jail term of a man for repeatedly raping a minor for over six months.

Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal junked the defence taken by convict Munna in his appeal that the silence of the victim all along was a proof of her consent to the sexual relations even as the victim told the court that she was administered intoxicating pills and threatened of dire consequences time and again.

“The defence taken by the accused that the prosecutrix had consensual sexual relations with him which is pointed out from her silence about the incident, holds no ground as mere silence cannot be taken as proof of consensual sexual relations as she has also stated that she was being threatened by the accused.

“Thus, any act of sexual intercourse in the absence of consent would amount to an act of rape,” Justice Sehgal held.

She dismissed the appeal filed by Munna against the conviction and sentence awarded by a trial court in 2015.

In the instant case, the minor left her house in Uttar Pradesh upset with the ill-treatment meted out to her by her step-mother.

She reached Old Delhi Railway Station where she met an old man who kept her in his house for two days and then sent her with Munna to Panipat on the pretext of finding her a job where he confined her in a flat for 2½ months and raped her repeatedly and also made her consume intoxicating pills under threat to kill her if she tried to escape.

He then took her to another city and raped her many times. After about a month and a half, she was taken to a flat rented out from one Suman Kumar in Noida from where she was not allowed to go out.

On April, 1, 2011, Munna and Suman brought the victim to a flat at Shastri Park, Delhi, where she was again raped by accused Munna in the absence of the co-accused Suman Kumar.

The next day, a heated altercation took place between Suman Kumar and Munna. Suman then called the police.

Suman was acquitted by the trial court for want of evidence that he share common intention with Munna in the crime.

Read the Judgment Here