Minor rape victims can be influenced: Court

Referring to a judgment passed by the Supreme Court, which maintained that child witnesses are dangerous witnesses, the session's court has acquitted a senior citizen, who was arrested in a molestation charge, stating that the victim's statement appears tutored. The court held that it is highly unsafe to rely upon the victim's testimony as there are several loopholes in the prosecution's case, thus giving the accused a benefit of doubt.

The accused, Moham Padaya, a 75-year-old man, had filed an appeal against the conviction, which was awarded to him by the magistrate court in the same case. According to the complainant, in 2007, when she was around 12-years-old, Pandaya had allegedly tried to forcibly hug her on two occasions and had also passed lewd comments on her.

The victim in her statement said the accused had also winked at her. However, the FIR in the complaint was lodged only three months after the incident. Based on the evidence produced before the Magistrate court, Padaya was sentenced to suffer two years of imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 25,000.

The session's court, while deciding on the appeal filed by the accused referred to a judgment passed by apex court in a similar case, which held that child witnesses are the dangerous ones as they are pliable and liable to get influenced easily. The court must carefully scrutinise the child's evidence and only after verifying the statement for its truthfulness, the court may accept such testimony, it said.