Rapist off the hook as victim unknowingly destroys evidence

S Shyam Prasad | NT

Bengaluru: A 27-year-old man who was convicted for rape and other charges was acquitted by the High Court for lack of evidence. One of the reasons it cited was that the alleged victim had washed her genitals after the alleged intercourse.

The HC noted that the alleged victim “stated before the doctor was that she herself washed her genitals. In fact this is also one of the circumstances that goes in favour of the accused because if she really had forcible intercourse, she would not have washed her genitals.”

The Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge had convicted the accused in October 2018 for Rape and other charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The allegation was that in September 2012 when the victim girl and her father and brother were returning home near Hulimavu in Bengaluru on a scooter somebody threw chili powder on them.

In the melee, the daughter was kidnapped by the accused along with his accomplice. She was taken to a lodge in Madikeri where she was allegedly raped by the accused. Of the five accused, two were not found and the case was continued against the other three including the main accused. The main accused was convicted by the trial court while the other two were acquitted.

The main accused was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for rape, six months for unlawful assembly, two years for kidnapping, one month for criminal conspiracy and one month for causing disappearance of evidence.Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar who heard the appeal of the accused gave his judgment recently.

The court said that the actual question is whether the accused committed rape on the victim. While the victim in her examination-in-chief supported the prosecution case, in the cross-examination she took a different stand. The accused and victim had met an advocate before going to Madikeri who had told them that they could not marry as she was a minor.

She was 16 years and 11 months old at the time of the incident.The alleged incident happened in 2012 and was before Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code was amended. This came to the rescue of the accused.

“Clause sixthly of Section 375 IPC as it stood before amendment states that intercourse with or without consent with a woman when she is under 16 years of age amounts to rape. In this case the age of the girl on the date of incident was more than 16 years. The sexual intercourse that accused No.1 had with PW.11 since appears to be consensual, cannot be brought within the definition of rape.

Therefore the trial court has erred in appreciating the evidence of main accused,” the HC said. Considering all these aspects, the HC concluded that the accused was not guilty of rape. He was also acquitted of the other charges against him and ordered to be set free immediately