Punjab Haryana High Court Chandigarh Rape Case

HC: rape survivors need not recall the events with mathematical certainty

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without that person’s consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person who is incapable of giving valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, has an intellectual disability or is below the legal age of consent. The term rape is sometimes used interchangeably with the term sexual assault.

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Facts

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has made it clear that it is not necessary that a rape survivor can remember entire sequence of events about the incident with “mathematical certainty” and minor improvements or discrepancies in statement cannot be used to doubt genuineness of her version during trial.

“When a young unmarried girl is being sexually ravished by three persons, it sounds unnatural that she can remember the entire sequence of events with mathematical certainty. In such circumstances, the improvements and discrepancies do not in any manner render the version of the prosecute to be doubtful,” a division bench of the high court comprising Justice Ajay Tewari and Justice VivekPuri observed recently while disposing of an appeal filed by three youths challenging their conviction in a gang rape case by the Rohtak court.

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The rape survivor’s solitary statement can also be the base of the conviction of rape accused, the bench ruled, because it sounds unnatural that the survivor would put her honour and that of her family at peril for false implication of a person in a rape case.

The case pertains to the gang rape of a Class IX student on October 25, 2010. The student, who was going to school at around 8 am took a lift in a white colored van, which had tinted windows, from the bus stand. One of the men in the car was brother of her cousin’s wife and he promised to drop her at her school. However, she was taken to an isolated place and raped by Dheeraj and another person.

The three accused dropped the survivor near her house around 2 pm. The matter was reported to police after she revealed the incident to her parents the next day. Medical report and other evidence proved she had been raped.

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HC: Natural for survivor to take time to share incident with kin
On July 25, 2014, the trial court in Rohtak sentenced all the three accused, including the driver of the vehicle, to 14 years in jail for the gang rape.

In their appeal against conviction, the three convicts mainly argued in the high court that while recording her statement before magistrate, the girl had stated that she had been raped in the moving vehicle whereas while appearing in the witness box, she stated that the accused had taken the vehicle to an isolated place and raped her in the stationary vehicle. On this, the high court observed that under such circumstances minor improvements in statement do not in any manner render the survivor’s version doubtful.
They also argued that there was a delay of around 36 hours in lodging the FIR. Dismissing these arguments, the high court observed that in such cases, it is quite natural for the survivor to take some time to share the incident with family members and thereafter the family members take a decision to report the matter to the police.

The HC upheld the conviction of the three men, but reduced the jail term of two convicted of gang rape from 14 years to 10 years each and ordered that driver Rakesh Kumar had undergone the sentence already served.

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(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme courtdirectives on cases related to sexual assault)

362. Abduction.—Whoever by force compels, or by any deceitful means induces, any person to go from any place, is said to abduct that person.
363. Kidnapping from lawful guardianship.—Whoever takes or entices any minor under 1[sixteen] years of age if a male, or under 2[eighteen] years of age if a female, or any person of unsound mind, out of the keeping of the lawful guardian of such minor or person of unsound mind, without the consent of such guardian, is said to kidnap such minor or person from lawful guardianship. Explanation.—The words “lawful guardian” in this section include any person lawfully entrusted with the care or custody of such minor or other person.

Section 376(1) in The Indian Penal Code

(1) Whoever, except in the cases provided for by sub-section (2), commits rape shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than seven years but which may be for life or for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine unless the women raped is his own wife and is not under twelve years of age, in which cases, he shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years or with fine or with both: Provided that the court may, for adequate and special reasons to be mentioned in the judgment, impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term of less than seven year.

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Rape is a serious offence, but to the contrary it is not taken seriously moreover there are debates over not giving capital punishment to the rapists. As seen here also the term of the two accused were reduced. As the mental trauma which a female goes through is not measurable so the punishment should rigorous and atleast 10 years

The HC upheld the conviction of the three men, but reduced the jail term of two convicted of gang rape from 14 years to 10 years each and ordered that driver Rakesh Kumar had undergone the sentence already served.

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For case specific advice, please call best/top/expert Punjab Haryana High Court Chandigarh Promise to Marry Rape Cheating Case Bail Acquittal Criminal Lawyers in Panchkula Mohali Zirakpur Kharar Derabassi.

This post is written by Jashanpreet Kaur.

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