Special Leave Petition Crl 2599 of 1979
From the Judgment and Order dated 9 7 1979 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Crl
A 12281976
section K Sabharwal and RC Kohli for the petitioner
The order of the Court was delivered by KRISHNA IYER J A rapist if the concurrent findings of the courts below were correct has chosen to seek special leave to challenge his crime and punishment and his counsel has attacked the verdict of culpability as wholly unfounded
Indeed it is redundant and absent exceptional circumstances out of bounds for this Court exercising its jurisdiction under article 136 to launch upon an exploration and re appreciation of the evidence its strengths and weaknesses with a view to sit in judgment over the holdings of the High Court in affirmance of those of the trial Court
Briefly we will touch upon one or two circumstances without claiming to be exhaustive in any manner
One Shashi Bala of Ambala was sleeping with her mother and other children outside her house in hot July 1975
The petitioner in the company of another acquitted accused carried her away under intimidation to a neighbouring godown belonging to one Tilak Raj another acquitted accused and in that secluded venue committed rape on the young women
After subjecting her to these beasteal acts of lust Shashi Bala who by then was nearly unconscious was put back in her cot from where she had been removed
In the morning the mother of the victim found blood on the daughter s salwar and thereupon she complainingly narrated the criminal assault of the previous night
On the return of the father PW 7 who had been away the victim went in his company to the police station lodged a report which was followed by investigation and charge sheet
The Court after a trial convicted the present petitioner but on grounds of benefit of doubt acquitted the rest
Medical evidence showed that the raped girl was below 16 years of age
We are not too happy about the acquittal but since the State has not chosen to come up in appeal against the acquittal we do not probe the matter further
Counsel for the petitioner persistently urged that the evidence of the prosecutrix without substantial corroboration was inadequate to rest a conviction under section 376 IPC He relied on observations of this Court in Gurucharan Singh vs State of Haryana for the pro 307 position that although a prosecutrix is not an accomplice her evidence as a rule of prudence is viewed by courts unfavourably unless reinforced by corroboration so as to satisfy its conscience that she is telling the truth and that the present accused of rape on her has not been falsely implicated
It is true that old English cases followed in British Indian courts had led to a tendency on the part of judge made law that the advisability of corroboration should be present to the mind of the Judge except where the circumstance make it safe to dispense with it
Case law even in those days had clearly spelt out the following propositions The tender years of the child coupled with other circumstances appearing in the case such for example as its demeanour unlikelihood of tutoring and so forth may render corroboration unnecessary but that is a question of fact in every case
The only rule of law is that this rule of prudence must be present to the mind of the judge or the jury as the case may be and be understood and appreciated by him or them
There is no rule of practice that there must in every case be corroboration before a conviction can be allowed to stand It would be impossible indeed it would be dangerous to formulate the kind of evidence which should or would be regarded as corroboration
Its nature and extent must necessarily vary with circumstances of each case and also according to the particular circumstances of the offence charged
 Observations on probative force of circumstances are not universal laws of nature but guidelines and good counsel
We must bear in mind human psychology and behavioural probability when assessing the testimonial potency of the victim s version
What girl would foist a rape charge on a stranger unless a remarkable set of facts or clearest motives were made out The inherent bashfulness the innocent naivete and the feminine tendency to conceal the outrage of masculine sexual aggression are factors which are relevant to improbabilise the hypothesis of false implication
The injury on the person of the victim especially her private parts has corroborative value
Her complaint to her parents and the presence of blood on her clothes are also testimony which warrants credence
More than all it baffles belief in human nature that a girl sleeping with her mother and other children in the open will come by blood on her garments and injury in her private parts unless she has been subjected to the torture of rape
And if rape has been committed 308 as counsel more or less conceded why of all persons in the world should the victim hunt up the petitioner and point at him the accusing finger To forsake these vital considerations and go by obsolescent demands for substantial corroboration is to sacrifice commonsense in favour of an artificial concoction called Judicial  probability
Indeed the court loses its credibility if it rebels against realism
The law court is not an unnatural world
We are not satisfied that merely because the trial court has ultra cautiously acquitted someone the higher court must for that reason acquit everyone Reflecting on this case we feel convinced that a socially sensitised judge is a better statutory armour against gender outrage than long clauses of a complex section with all the protections writ into it
NVK Petition dismissed


Summary:
The prosecution alleged that a girl below 16 years of age was sleeping outside her house with her family and that the petitioner in the company of another acquitted accused carried her away under intimidation to a neighbouring godown belonging to another acquitted accused and in that secluded venue committed rape on the young woman and afterwards put her back on her cot
The trial court convicted the petitioner but on grounds of benefit of doubt acquitted the other accused
The High Court affirmed this order
In the special leave petition to this Court it was contended on behalf of the petitioner that the evidence of the prosecutrix without substantial corroboration was inadequate to rest a conviction under section 376 IPC
Dismissing the special leave petition  HELD 1
To forsake vital consideration and go by obsolete demands for substantial corroboration is to sacrifice commonsense in favour of an artificial concoction called judicial  probability
308A 2
Human psychology and behavioural probability must be borne in mind when assessing the testimonial potency of the victim s version
What girl would foster rape charges on a stranger unless a remarkable set of facts or cleanest motives are made out The inherent bashfulness the innocent naivete and the feminine tendency to conceal the outrage of masculine sexual aggression are factors which are relevant to improbabilise the hypothesis of false implication
The injury on the person of the victim has corroborative value
307G 3
The court loses its credibility if it rebels against realism
The law court is not an unnatural world
308 B 4
Merely because the trial court has ultra cautiously acquitted someone the higher court must for that reason cannot acquit everyone
308C 5
A socially sensitized judge is a better statutory armour against gender outrage than long clauses of a complex section with all the protections writ into it
308C 6
Observation on probative force of circumstances are not universal laws of nature but guidelines and good counsel
307 F Gurcharan Singh vs State of Haryana  referred to 306