Difficult to believe person who is unable to walk sexually raped child: HC

S Shyam Prasad | NT

Bengaluru: Considering the inconsistent testimonies of the alleged victim and other witnesses and calling them untrustworthy, the High Court of Karnataka has upheld the acquittal of a 57-year-old physically challenged person who was accused of sexual assault on a five-year-old child.

“Moreover, it is difficult to expect a physically handicapped person who cannot walk without a walking stick and even fold his legs would go to the extent of subjecting a minor girl to sexual assault,” Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar and Justice G Basavaraja said in their recent judgement.

The High Court felt that the child was tutored to make the allegations against the accused. “The evidence of PW.1 (witness) appears to be a tutored version and therefore it is not safe to rely on her sole testimony to come to conclusion that respondent committed rape on her,” the HC said.

The failure of the prosecution to prove the case was also factored in. Two doctors examined PW.1 (victim). The first doctor did not find any abrasion marks on the genital region and therefore he sent the girl for examination by another Obstetrician and Gynecologist.

The second doctor also gave evidence that sexual intercourse had not taken place. “Therefore it is clear that the evidence of PW.17 (second doctor) does not corroborate the testimony of PW.1,” the HC said.

A complaint was filed against the man, accusing him of raping the minor in November 2014, by the grandmother of the victim. After investigation a charge sheet was filed and trial conducted against him. The Trial Court however acquitted him of the charges under Section 376 of the IPC and Sections 4 and 12 of the POCSO Act.

The Trial Court held that the medical evidence does not support the case. There was a loan transaction between the accused and mother of the alleged victim and when the repayment of the loan was insisted, a false FIR was registered foisting a false story of rape, the court had said.

The State filed an appeal against the acquittal in the HC in 2017 which gave its judgement recently. The HC however upheld the order of the lower court.

One of the reasons the prosecution case did not succeed was the fact that the accused was a physically challenged person who “cannot walk without the aid of a walking stick and he also cannot fold his legs.” (CrLA 426/2017)