SC passed the judgement while dismissing the appeal of Ram Singh alias Chhaju who, along with a friend, raped the victim, a midwife, in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district on August 13, 1989.
The Supreme Court has held that absence of injuries on a rape victim cannot be a ground for acquitting the accused of the charge.
"Much importance cannot be given to the absence of defence injuries, because it is not an inevitable rule that in the absence of defence injuries the prosecution must necessarily fail to establish its case," a bench of justices P Sathasivam and HL Dattu said in a judgement.
The apex court passed the judgement while dismissing the appeal of Ram Singh alias Chhaju who, along with a friend, raped the victim, a midwife, in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district on August 13, 1989.
In the first information report and also in the evidence of the victim, it has come on record that she could not cry out for help since her mouth was gagged by the accused, the Bench noted.
The victim was aged about 40 years and the accused were 20-year-old persons and therefore, she was not in a position of equal strength so as to resist the appellants.
"Even in the absence of any injuries on the person of the victim, in our view, with the other evidence on record, the prosecution is able to establish that the offence was committed," the apex court said.
Ram Singh had taken the plea that there were no injuries on the victim and he was falsely implicated.
Singh and the co-accused Naresh Singh (since dead) had raped the victim after luring her to their village on the plea that the former's sister-in-law was undergoing labour pains.
The sessions court acquitted the duo on the ground that the prosecution failed to establish sufficient evidence, but the Himachal Pradesh high court however, convicted and sentenced Ram Singh to 10 years RI. The case against Naresh Singh had abated, since he died during the pendency of the trial.
The apex court concurred with the findings of the high court that a midwife was equivalent to one's mother and as such her accompanying the accused in the midnight when they came to her house was not something unusual to suspect her character.
Besides the other evidence including medical and circumstantial produced by the prosection sufficiently established the guilt of the accused, the apex court said while upholding the 10 year sentence.
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