Supreme Court acquits man accused of raping minor; flags HC's failure to consider medical evidence

The Supreme Court on Tuesday restored the acquittal of a man accused of raping a five-year-old girl [Ram Singh v. State of Himachal Pradesh]

A Bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Atul S Chandurkar set aside the Himachal Pradesh High Court judgment that had reversed the trial court's acquittal of Ram Singh.

The apex court found that the High Court had failed to properly consider the medical and forensic evidence on record.

“We, therefore, find that the learned judge of the trial court had rightly acquitted the appellant (Ram Singh) of the said accusation. The High Court, in our view, failed to refer to the medical reports as well as the report of the forensic science laboratory (FSL) while overturning the acquittal of the appellant,” the Court said.

The Bench further added that the evidence on record created serious doubt about the prosecution case and was insufficient to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

“The material in that regard falls short and it, in fact, creates a serious doubt about the version of the prosecution,” the Court observed.

According to the prosecution, the accused Ram Singh was staying with Jaidev Sharma, the girl’s uncle, who lived near her house.

On June 28, 2009, the child went to Sharma’s house at around 8.30 am and returned about half an hour later.

Her mother, who was the informant in the case, claimed that the child began crying when she was being given a bath and, on being questioned, alleged that Singh had sexually assaulted her.

The mother also claimed that there were bloodstains on the child’s clothes. She washed the clothes and later lodged an FIR after informing her husband and father.

Singh was eventually tried for rape under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The trial court acquitted him in January 2010 after finding discrepancies in the prosecution evidence and holding that the charge had not been proved.

However, in June 2016, the Himachal Pradesh High Court reversed the acquittal, convicted Singh and sentenced him to ten years’ rigorous imprisonment.

Singh then approached the Supreme Court.

The top court noted that the child had been medically examined within twelve hours of the alleged incident.

It said the doctor found no injury on the child’s body and the final medical opinion recorded no evidence suggesting penetration.

The Court also noted that the forensic report did not detect blood or semen on the child’s clothes or on the material seized from the alleged place of occurrence.

Significantly, although the victim’s mother had washed the clothes, the Court referred to material indicating that the Benzidine test was employed by the FSL, a test capable of detecting blood even after repeated washing.

However, the test returned negative results.

Therefore, the Court said that the absence of blood on the clothes was a relevant circumstance that could not be ignored.

The Court further pointed to a discrepancy regarding the place of the alleged assault. While the child stated that the incident occurred on a cot, the investigating officer said that it took place in the kitchen where there was no cot or bed.

Considering these circumstances together with the oral testimony of the prosecution witnesses, the Supreme Court found that the High Court had overturned the acquittal without referring to either the final medical report or the FSL report.

“The opinion of the MO at the preliminary examination stands confirmed by the Final Medical Report. In addition, the report of the FSL rules out the presence of blood and semen on the clothes of the victim. Traces of semen on the undergarment of the appellant, by itself, is not found relevant in these circumstances,” the Court said.

It, therefore, set aside the High Court judgment and restored the trial court’s acquittal of Singh.

Advocates Sonam Gupta, Saumay Kapoor, Shiva Pande and Ritvika Poswal appeared for Singh.

Additional Advocate General Vaibhav Srivastava represented the State of Himachal Pradesh.

[Read Judgment]