Minor Discrepancies In Victim’s Evidence Not On Material Aspect: Bombay High Court Upholds Conviction Of Man In 4-Yr-Old Girl’s Rape Case
The Bombay High Court said that no benefit can be given to the accused of the fact that no semen or blood detected on private part or clothes of the victim.
Justice Nitin B. Suryawanshi, Justice Sandipkumar C. More, Bombay High Court, Aurangabad Bench
The Bombay High Court has upheld the conviction of a man who was accused of raping a four-year-old minor girl in the year 1999.
A Criminal Appeal was filed before the Aurangabad Bench by the accused against the Judgment of the Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) by which he was convicted for the offence under Section 376(2)(f) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC).
A Division Bench of Justice Nitin B. Suryawanshi and Justice Sandipkumar C. More observed, “Thus, considering the entire evidence on record, the prosecution has definitely established the guilt of accused beyond all reasonable doubts. Minor discrepancies in the evidence of victim are not on material aspect or in respect of core of the prosecution case.”
The Bench said that no benefit can be given to the accused of the fact that no semen or blood detected on private part or clothes of the victim.
Advocate S.J. Salunke appeared for the Appellant/Accused while APP S.R. Wakale appeared for the Respondent/State.
Case Background
As per the prosecution case, the victim at the time of incident was aged about four years. On the day of incident, at about 2:30 p.m., the victim told her mother (Complainant) that she intended to go to the house of her friend for playing. Her friend was the daughter of the Appellant-accused. Accordingly, she went to her house, however, at about 4:00 p.m., she allegedly rushed back to her house and started crying by embracing her mother. When the mother asked her as to what happened, she allegedly told her that the accused who was wearing ‘Lungi’ gave her sweet by name ‘Banaras’ and thereafter, he made her to lie on the cot, and then sat on her abdomen.
As per the victim, he inserted his private part in her place of urine. It was further alleged that when the victim’s mother saw the private part of the victim, she found that it was swollen and there were sticky stains on her knicker. The victim was allegedly crying whole night due to pains. Next day, the Complainant lodged the report of the incident against the accused in the police station. The Trial Court convicted him under Section 376(2)(f) of the IPC and sentenced him to suffer life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs. 1,000/-. Challenging his conviction, the accused was before the High Court.
Reasoning
The High Court in the above context of the case, noted, “… the version of victim is well corroborated by her mother i.e.PW-1 and most importantly the alleged criminal act of the accused is definitely established on the basis of medical evidence on record.”
The Court remarked that the act of accused of committing forcible sexual intercourse with the girl of his daughter’s age has to be condemned and viewed seriously.
“… we are of the opinion that the learned trial Court has properly appreciated the evidence on record while convicting the appellant/accused. As such, no interference is required in the impugned judgment”, it added.
The Court, therefore, directed the accused to surrender himself before the concerned police station within three months to undergo the sentence awarded to him.
Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the Appeal and upheld the conviction.
Cause Title- Sk. Fakroddin v. The State of Maharashtra (Neutral Citation: 2025:BHC-AUG:17988-DB)
