Case: State Of U.P Vs. Chhoteylal

She had no free act of the mind during her stay with A-1 as she was under constant fear. 24. We have also examined the evidence of prosecutrix, her brother and the statement of A-1 under Section 313 Cr.P.C. to satisfy ourselves whether there was likelihood of false implication or motive for false accusations. Except the bald statement of A-1 under Section 313 Cr.P.C. that he has been falsely implicated due to enmity, nothing has been brought on record that may probabalise that the prosecutrix had motive to falsely implicate him. The circumstances even do not remotely suggest that the prosecutrix would put her reputation and chastity at stake for the reason stated by A-1 in the statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C. that a case was pending between A-1 and one Sheo Ratan. In our view, the evidence of the prosecutrix is reliable and has rightly been acted upon by the trial court. 25. Although the lady doctor - PW-5 did not find any injury on the external or internal part of body of the prosecutrix and opined that the prosecutrix was habitual to sexual intercourse, we are afraid that does not make the testimony of the prosecutrix unreliable. The fact of the matter is that the prosecutrix was recovered almost after three weeks. Obviously the sign of forcible intercourse would not persist for that long period. It is wrong to assume that in all cases of intercourse with the women against will or without consent, there would be some injury on the external or internal part of the victim. The prosecutrix has clearly deposed that she was not in a position to put up any struggle as she was taken away from her village by two adult males. The absence of injuries on the person of the prosecutrix is not sufficient to discredit her evidence; she was a helpless victim. She did not and could not inform the neighbours where she was kept due to fear. 26. As regards the belated FIR, suffice it to observe that PW-1 (brother of the prosecutrix) has given plausible explanation. PW-1 deposed that when he returned to his home in the evening from agricultural field, he was informed that her sister (prosecutrix) who had gone to ease herself had not returned. He searched his sister and he was told by the two villagers that her sister was seen with the accused. He contacted the relatives of the accused for return of his sister. He did not lodge the report immediately as the honour of the family was involved. It was only after few days that when his sister did not return and there was no help from the relatives of the accused that he made the complaint on September 28, 1989 to the Superintendent of Police, Hardoi who marked the complaint to the Circle Officer and the FIR was registered on September 30, 1989. The delay in registration of the FIR is, thus, reasonably explained. The High Court was in grave error in concluding that there was no reasonable and plausible explanation for the belated FIR and that it was lodged after consultation and due deliberation and that creates doubt about the case. Unfortunately, the High Court did not advert to the evidence of PW-1 and the reasoning of the trial court in this regard. 27. The High Court was not at all justified in taking a different view or conclusion from the trial court. The judgment of the High Court is vitiated by non-consideration of the material evidence and relevant factors eloquently emerging from the prosecution evidence. The High Court in a sketchy manner reversed the judgment of the trial court without discussing the deposition of the witnesses as well as all relevant points which were considered and touched upon by the trial court. We are satisfied that the judgment of the High Court cannot be sustained and has to be set aside. 28. We are not oblivious of the fact that the incident is of 1989; the prosecutrix has married after the incident and A-1 has a family of his own and sending A-1 to jail now may disturb his family life. But none of these factors individually or collectively persuades us for a soft option. Rape is a heinous crime and once it is established against a person charged of the offence, justice must be done to the victim of crime by awarding suitable punishment to the crime doer. We are constrained to observe that criminal justice system is not working in our country as it should. The police reforms have not taken place despite directions of this Court in the case of Prakash Singh & Ors. vs. Union of India & Ors. ((2006) 8 SCC 1 ). We do not intend to say anything more in this regard since matter is being dealt with separately by a 3-Judge Bench. The investigators hardly have professional orientation; they do not have modern tools. On many occasions impartial investigation suffers because of political interference. The criminal trials are protracted because of non-appearance of official witnesses on time and the non-availability of the facilities for recording evidence by video conferencing. The public prosecutors have their limitations; the defence lawyers do not make themselves available and the court would be routinely informed about their pre-occupation with other matters; the courts remain over-burdened with the briefs listed on the day and they do not have adequate infrastructure. The adjournments thus become routine; the casualty is justice. It is imperative that the criminal cases relating to offences against the State, corruption, dowry death, domestic violence, sexual assault, financial fraud and cyber crimes are fast tracked and decided in a fixed time frame, preferably, of three years including the appeal provisions. It is high time that immediate and urgent steps are taken in amending the procedural and other laws to achieve the above objectives. We must remember that a strong and efficient criminal justice system is a guarantee to the rule of law and vibrant civil society.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]The expressions `against her will and `without her consent may overlap sometimes but surely the two expressions in clause First and clause Secondly have different connotation and dimension. The expression `against her will would ordinarily mean that the intercourse was done by a man with a woman despite her resistance and opposition. On the other hand, the expression `without her consent would comprehend an act of reason accompanied by deliberation. The concept of `consent in the context of Section 375 IPC has come up for consideration before this Court on more than one occasion. Before we deal with some of these decisions, reference to Section 90 of the IPC may bethat a woman who is victim of sexual assault is not an accomplice to the crime. Her evidence cannot be tested with suspicion as that of an accompliceThe testimony of prosecutrix, if found to be reliable, by itself, may be sufficient to convict the culprit and no corroboration of her evidence is necessary. In prosecutions of rape, the law does not require corroboration. The evidence of the prosecutrix may sustain a conviction. It is only by way of abundant caution that court may look for some corroboration so as to satisfy its conscience and rule out any false accusations