The Gauhati high court (HC) has termed rape as a violation of the victim’s fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution while upholding conviction by a trial court in an 11-year-old case.
In an order passed on Monday (August 31), Justice Rumi Kumari Phukan held that the statement of the rape survivor could be accepted as the true version of the crime, if supported by other evidence on record.
“The courts are sensitised that rape is a violation of victim’s fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution and a rape survivor is placed on a higher pedestal than an injured witness,” the court stated in its order.
The rape survivor (20) was sexually assaulted by the accused in a bathroom of a swimming pool in Digboi town in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district on the night of November 26, 2009. The incident had occurred, when the rape survivor was returning from her workplace. She worked on a daily wage basis at a hospital in Digboi.
A case was lodged and the accused, Nasir Uddin Ali, was nabbed a day after the incident. Ali was held guilty by a trial court and was sentenced to nine years of rigorous imprisonment.
Filing an appeal in HC against the verdict, Ali’s counsel argued that the rape survivor had changed her statement during trial and the conviction by the trial court on the basis of her sole testimony is in poor legal light.
Appearing on behalf of the state, the counsel for the rape survivor argued against the appeal.
The prosecutrix argued that her statement could not be discarded as evidence, as because her medical examination was not conclusive. It was also established that the accused was present at the place, where the crime was committed, she added.
“The rape survivor has withstood the lengthy cross-examination without any vital contradiction to raise suspicion,” the HC order stated.
“The evidence of the prosecutrix in the given facts and circumstances give no room for any doubt and her evidence is akin to the ‘sterling witness’ ”, it added.
The HC upheld the trial court’s conviction under Section 376 (punishment for sexual assault) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), but commuted Ali’s sentence from nine years to seven.
The convict’s sentence was commuted, as he has five children and has been lodged in jail from the day he was convicted on July 12, 2016.
