Women in our society reluctant to disclose sexual assault to avoid social stigma: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court recently observed that women in our society are reluctant to disclose sexual assault publicly due to the fear of facing social stigma in future [Raja Ruidas v State].A Bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi made the observation while upholding the conviction of a man for the rape of a 16-year-old girl."We do agree with the views of the learned trial court that in our society, a lady especially a minor girl would feel shy in publicly disclosing a sexual assault upon her in order to avoid a future social stigma,” the bench said..In this case, the man (appellant) had earlier been found guilty and convicted by the trial court for the offence of rape under Section 376(2)(i)(n) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 6 of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act).The appellant then challenged the trial court verdict before the High Court.The appellant was accused of having forcefully raped the girl in a room over his shoe shop. Thereafter, he was stated to have started a relationship with the girl and engaged in sexual intercourse on promise to marry her. He is further alleged to have warned her not to disclose the relationship to anyone.The sexual relationship continued in secret until he left for his village and married another woman, the Court was told.After the victim disclosed the incident to her parents, her family is stated to have visited the appellant's residence, but were driven out. Subsequently, they lodged a police complaint..The Court found that the prosecution had effectively established that there was a love affair between the appellant and the minor victim, which allowed the appellant to commit sexual assault. This was duly corroborated by medical evidence, the Court added.Notably, the Court reiterated that there may be numerous reasons for rupture of hymen of a lady and it does not conclusively prove rape.All the same, the Court noted that the minor’s ruptured hymen, in this case, may be due to prolonged sexual activity..Ultimately, the Court dismissed the man’s appeal and upheld his conviction on finding that he was unable to rebut the allegations levelled against him concerning offences under the POCSO Act.“The presumption enshrined in Section 29 of the Act of 2012 would surely come into play. The foundational facts having been proved by the prosecution, it was incumbent upon the appellant to establish the allegations were false and as to why he was chosen from amongst the people in the town, to be falsely implicated for the offence complained of. We are afraid; the appellant has failed to discharge his onus,” the Court said.The Court, however, clarified that the period of detention already served by the appellant will be considered as part of his punishment..Senior Advocate Sekhar Basu and advocates Sandipan Ganguly and Manaswita Mukherjee represented the appellant.Advocates Neguive Ahamed, Zareen N Khan and Arup Sarkar represented the State..[Read Order]