Special Leave Petition Criminal No 950 of 1980
From the Judgment and order dated 21 9 1979 of the Allahabad High Court in Crl
A No 230574
U section Prasad for the Petitioner
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by KRlSHNA IYER J
This special Leave Petition relates to a conviction and sentence for an offence of rape
The escalation of such crimes has reached proportions to a degree that exposes the pretensions of the nation s spiritual leadership and celluloid censorship puts to shame our ancient cultural heritage and humane claims and betrays a vulgar masculine outrage on human rights of which woman s personal dignity is a sacred component
We refuse special leave and briefly state a few reasons for doing so
Draupadi a middle aged Bal Sewika in a village welfare organization  was sleeping in a girls  school where she was allegedly raped by Rafiq the petitioner and three others
The offence took place around 230 am On August 2223 1971 and the next morning the victim related the incident to the Mukhiya Sewika of the village
A report was made to the Police Station on August 23
1971 at mid day
The investigation that followed resulted in a charge sheet a trial and eventually in a conviction based substantially on the testimony of the victim
Although some of the witnesses
tell tale fashion
shifted their loyalties and betrayed the prosecution case the trial court  entered a finding of guilt against the appellant giving the benefit of doubt to the other three obscurely
A 7 year sentence of rigorous imprisonment was awarded as justly merited
having regard to the circumstances
The appeal carried to the High Court proved unsuccessful but undaunted he petitioner has sought leave to appeal to this Court
Concurrent findings of fact ordinarily acquire a deterrent sanctity and tentative finality when challenged in this Court and we rarely invoke the special jurisdiction under article 136 of the Constitution which is meant mainly to correct manifest injustice or errors of law of great moment
By these substantial canons the present petition for leave has not even a dog s chance
404 Counsel contended that there was absence of corroboration of the testimony of the prosecutrix that there was absence of injuries on the person of the woman and so the conviction was unsustainable tested on the touchstone of case law
None of these submissions has any substance and we should in the ordinary course have desisted from making even a speaking order but counsel cited a decision of this Court in Pratap Misra  Ors
vs State of Orissa and urged that absence cf injuries on the person of the victim was fatal to the prosecution and that corroborative evidence was an imperative component of judicial credence in rape cases
We do not agree
For one thing Pratap Misra s case supra laid down no inflexible axiom of law on either point
The facts and circumstances often vary from case to case
the crime situation and the myriad psychic factors social conditions and people s life styles may fluctuate and so rules of prudence relevant in one fact situation may be inept in another
We cannot accept the argument that regardless of the specific circumstances of a crime and criminal milieu some strands of probative reasoning which appealed to a Bench in one reported decision must mechanically be extended to other cases
Corroboration as a condition for judicial reliance on the testimony cf a prosecutrix is not a matter of law but a guidance of prudence under given circumstances
Indeed from place to place from age to age
from varying life styles and behavioural complexes inferences from a given set of facts oral and circumstantial may have to be drawn not with dead uniformity but realistic diversity lest rigidity in the shape of rule of law in this area be introduced through a new type of precedential tyranny
The same observation holds good regarding the presence or absence of injuries on the person of the aggressor or the aggressed
There are several sacred cows of the criminal law in Indo Anglian jurisprudence which are superstitious survivals and need to be re examined
When rapists are revelling in their promiscuous pursuits and half of humankind womankind is protesting against its hapless lot when no woman of honour will accuse another of rape since she sacrifices thereby what is dearest to her we cannot cling to a fossil formula and insist on corroborative testimony even if taken as a whole the case spoken to by the victim strikes a judicial mind as probable
In this case the testimony has commanded acceptance from two courts
When a woman is ravished what is inflicted is not merely physical injury
but the deep sense of some deathless shame
405 A rape a rape   
Yes you have ravish d justice Forced her to do your pleasure
Hardly a sensitized judge who sees the conspectus of circumstances in its totality and rejects the testimony of a rape victim unless there are very strong circumstances militating against is veracity
None we see in his case and confirmation of the conviction by the courts below must therefore be a matter of course
Judicial response to human rights cannot be blunted by legal bigotry
The case before us occurred in 1971 and is drawing to a close in 1980
What a pity  Now that there is considerable public and parliamentary attention to the violent frequency of rape cases it is time that the court reminds the nation that deterrence comes more effectively from quick investigations prompt prosecutions and urgent finality including special rules of evidence and specialised agencies for trial
Mechanical increase of punitive severity without more may yield poor dividends for women victims
In Dr Johnson s time public hanging for pick pocketing was prevalent in England but as Dr Johnson sardonically noted pick pockets were busy plying their trade among crowds gathered to see some pick pocket being publicly executed
Dr Johnson s wit is our wisdom
The strategy for a crime free society is not draconian severity in sentence but institutional sensitivity processual celerity and prompt publicity among the concerned community
Lawlessness is abetted by a laggard long lived lacunose and legalistic litigative syndrome rather than by less harsh provisions in the Penal Code
The focus must be on the evil not its neighbourhood
Counsel submitted that a 7 year sentence was too severe
No because as we have stated earlier rape for a woman is deathless shame and must be dealt with as the gravest crime against human dignity
No interference on the score of culpability or quantum of punishment is called for in the circumstances
We refuse special leave
NVK Petition dismissed


Summary:
Indian Penal Code 1860 section 376 Evidence and proof Absence of injuries on prosecution Whether fatal to the prosecution Testimony of prosecutrix Corroboration whether necessary
The petitioner was convicted on the charge of committing rape on a middle aged Bal Sewika in a village welfare organisation who was sleeping a girls school
The trial Court imposed a sentence of 7 years  rigorous imprisonment
The High Court confirmed the conviction and sentence
In the Special Leave Petition to this Court it was contended on behalf of the petitioner relying on the decision of this Court in Pratap Mishra  Ors
vs State of Orissa AIR 1977 SC 1307 that absence of injuries on the person of the victim was fatal tb the prosecution and that corroborating evidence was an imperative component of judicial credence in rape cases
It was also submitted that the sentence of 7 years was too severe
Dismissing the petition  HELD 1
No interference on the score of culpability or quantum of punishment is called for
1405 2
Concurrent findings of fact ordinarily acquire a deterrent sanctity and tentative finality when challenged in this Court
The special jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution which is meant mainly to correct manifest injustice or errors of law of great moment cannot be invoked in the instant case
403 H 3i The facts and circumstances often vary from case to case the crime situation and the myriad psychic factors social conditions and people s life styles may fluctuate and so rules of prudence relevant in one fact situation may be inept in another
The argument that regardless of the specific circumstances of a crime and criminal milieu some strands of probative reasoning which appealed to a Bench in one reported decision must mechanically be extended to other cases cannot be accepted
404 D ii Pratap Misra s case laid down no inflexible axiom of law on either point
404 C 4
Corroboration as a condition for judicial reliance on the testimony of a prosecutrix is not a matter of law but a guidance of prudence under given circumstances
404 E 403 In the instant case the testimony of the prosecutrix has commanded acceptance from two courts
A sensitized judge who sees the conspectus of circumstances in its totality hardly rejects the testimony of a rape victim unless there are very strong circumstances militating against its veracity
There is none in this case
The confirmation of the conviction by the Courts below must therefore be a matter of course
404H 405B