Evidence of doctor only supplementary: HC

Shyam Prasad

The High Court of Karnataka has upheld the acquittal of a rape accused as the alleged victim girl did not support the police case. The police insisted that the doctor had certified that there was sexual assault. But the HC said that “evidence of a doctor is only supplementary. It cannot be used as substantive evidence.”

The Machenahalli police had filed an appeal before the division bench of Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar and Justice TG Shivashankare Gowda challenging the acquittal of a 27-year-old and a 47-year-old by a Fast-Track Court in Chikkaballapura in a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in 2019.

It was alleged that the 27-year-old kidnapped the victim girl from Gowribidanur with the help of the second accused and took her to Hindupur to the house of his grandmother and had forcible sexual intercourse with her. The trial court acquitted the two after concluding that the victim and the accused were in love and the girl had gone with him on her own.

The HC in its judgement on the appeal noted the evidence “clearly indicates that the victim girl as well as the first respondent were in love. No case of enticement of the girl is forthcoming in order to hold that the offence was committed. Moreover, the victim girl does not state she was subjected to penetrative intercourse.