The Patna High Court recently noted that sexual assault on a young girl affects her personality and leaves the survivor dealing with lifetime trauma while maintaining the conviction and life sentence of a father who had sexually assaulted his two younger children from 2007 to 2013. [F vs State of Bihar]
According to a division bench of Justices Anant Badar and Rajesh Kumar Verma, rape leaves a victim with not just physical anguish but also emotional and psychic harm.
“It scarcely needs to be said that rape is a horrifying crime that leaves the victim permanently damaged since it not only causes bodily harm but also emotional and psychological stress. Sexual encounters with young girls who are still developing emotionally have a traumatising effect on them that lasts throughout their lives and frequently destroys the victim’s entire personality “stated the Court.
Relevantly, the Court observed that the Supreme Court had ruled in Bharwada Bhoginbhai Hirjibhai v. State of Gujarat that it is uncommon for a girl or woman to falsely accuse another person of sexual assault in India.
“In India’s tradition-bound, non-permissive society, a girl or woman would be incredibly reluctant to even acknowledge the existence of any occurrence that would have an impact on her virginity. Such a girl would be aware of the risk of social exclusion or of being despised by society, including her family, etc “Rejecting the claim that the daughters unjustly accused their father, the court stated.
According to the prosecution’s evidence, the man’s wife committed herself on November 14, 2007, as a result of their frequent arguments. The accused began abusing his older daughter, who was still a juvenile at the time, shortly after she passed away.
Because the appellant was her father, the child began to expect the sexual assault and didn’t report it to anybody.
The older daughter told their maternal aunt that the dad had started beating his younger daughter as well. However, the accused said that the aunt was pressuring him to wed her and that after he refused, she had instructed the girls to testify against him.
The girls collected the confidence to file a First Information Report (FIR) against him on July 30, 2013, alleging rape (Section 376) in accordance with the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the pertinent POCSO Act provisions.
The court observed that the two victims’ testimony was credible and supported by other pertinent evidence.
“It scarcely needs to be said that rape is a horrifying crime that leaves the victim permanently damaged since it not only causes bodily harm but also emotional and psychological stress. Sexual encounters with young girls who are still developing emotionally have a traumatising effect on them that lasts throughout their lives and frequently destroys the victim’s entire personality “the Court pointed out in its ruling on July 25.
The bench emphasised the need to correctly consider a rape victim’s evidence and reaffirmed that the victim of a sexual attack is not an accomplice but rather the object of another person’s passion.
“Her testimony has more weight than that of a hurt witness. Evidence from a rape victim must be given the same weight as that from a witness who has been hurt. It is not necessary to seek confirmation of the victim’s testimony, and the court must typically accept it if the totality of the circumstances revealed by the evidence shows that the victim had no motivation to falsely accuse the accused “stated the bench.
The Court expressed its opinion that it is expected to take on a great degree of responsibility and be sensible while handling cases of sexual assault on young females.
The bench affirmed the man’s conviction and life sentence while stating that “broader probabilities of the prosecution case are required to be examined in such crimes and the Court is not expected to get swayed by minor contradictions or insignificant discrepancies in the evidence of prosecution which do not go to the core of the prosecution case.”
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