29-year-old man sent to seven years in jail for raping 15-yr-old girl

A 29-year-old mason has been sentenced to seven years in prison for raping a 15-year-old girl at a construction site in Malad in 2017. The court relied on the sole testimony of the victim, which it found to be reliable and trustworthy. The defense argued that the victim did not know the accused and pointed to a delay in filing the complaint, but the court dismissed these arguments. The court emphasized the importance of treating rape cases with sensitivity and not dismissing the testimony of the victim based on minor contradictions or discrepancies.

MUMBAI: The Dindoshi sessions court on Wednesday sentenced a 29-year-old mason to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for raping the 15-year-old daughter of a fellow worker at a construction site in Malad in 2017.

HT Image

“The conviction can be based on the sole testimony of the prosecutrix if it is implicitly reliable and there is a ring of truth in it, provided that the testimony is natural, trustworthy and worth being relied upon,” said additional sessions judge SN Salve. “I do not find any difficulty to act on the sole testimony of the prosecutrix as it inspires confidence and same is reliable,” the judge added while holding the mason guilty of the charge of raping the girl.

According to the prosecution, the girl was staying with her grandparents at their native place in Orissa. On January 31, 2017, she visited her parents and stayed with them at the construction site in Malad East.

On February 10, 2017, the father got to know that his mother, residing in his native village, had passed away and hence he went to Orissa for her funeral and therefore the girl was staying at the site along with her mother.

On March 2, 2017, around 6am, when the father returned to the city from his village, he saw that his wife was crying. On questioning her, she told him that on March 1, 2017, when she returned from work around 4pm, she couldn’t find their daughter and hence she and other workers searched for the girl. A fellow worker informed them that she had seen their daughter going into a room at the backside where the girl was found crying and wailing in pain.

On enquiring, the survivor told her father that a man from their neighbourhood dragged her into his room and sexually assaulted her. The father looked for the accused but could not find him and eventually rushed to the Dindoshi police station and reported the incident. The police traced the mason and arrested him.

The case against the 29-year-old was based solely on the deposition of the survivor. The defence therefore prayed that the accused should be given the benefit of the doubt and vehemently argued that the prosecutrix did not know the accused prior to the alleged incident and also highlighted the delay in lodging the complaint, creating doubt over the trustworthiness of her evidence.

The court, however, held the mason guilty, though the testimony of the minor girl was not corroborated by medical evidence. “Ordinarily, the evidence of a prosecutrix should not be suspected and should be believed, and if the evidence is reliable, no corroboration is necessary.” said the court.

“The courts shoulder a great responsibility while trying an accused on charges of rape. The courts are required to deal with such cases with utmost sensitivity. The courts should examine the broader probabilities of the case and not get swayed by minor contradictions and insignificant discrepancies in the statement of the prosecutrix which are not of fatal nature to disbelieve the testimony of the prosecutrix,” the court added.