Jharkhand High Court Gang Rape Conviction: The Jharkhand High Court has upheld the conviction of four men in a gang rape case from 2013. The court rejected their appeals and said the woman’s statement was reliable and supported by medical evidence. It also ruled that the delay in filing the police complaint and the absence of sperm in medical tests weren’t enough to doubt her account.
A Division Bench of Justice Ananda Sen and Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava heard the appeals against the trial court’s order. The judges found no reason to overturn the conviction of the four men.
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Details of the 2013 Gang Rape Case
According to the prosecution, the woman was travelling from her husband’s home to her parents’ home on November 5, 2013. At around 3 pm, four men from Jerka village allegedly caught her near the Lapit Chhencha forest. They took her to a drain in the forest and raped her one after another. They reportedly ran away after people cutting firewood nearby heard her screams.
A village meeting was called the next morning, but the accused men didn’t attend. The woman filed a written complaint at Patamda Police Station on November 8, 2013.
In August 2018, the Additional Sessions Judge-X-cum-FTC in Jamshedpur convicted all four men under Section 376D of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with gang rape.
Court Rejects Arguments Against the Woman’s Testimony
The accused argued that there wasn’t enough evidence against them. They also pointed to differences in witness statements and said the medical report found no sperm and no injuries to the woman’s private parts. Her clothes weren’t sent for forensic tests and the accused weren’t medically examined. They also said no test identification parade was held.
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But the High Court said the woman’s testimony was consistent in her court statement, her statement before a magistrate and her written complaint. The Bench relied on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Krishan Kumar Malik v. State of Haryana, which says a victim’s statement alone can support a conviction if the court finds it trustworthy.
The court also explained why the absence of sperm didn’t weaken the case. The medical examination took place around 72 hours after the incident. The judges said:
“It further appears that the prosecutrix is a widow lady aged about 50 years and there was a gap of 72 hours in between the incident of rape and medical examination, hence, non-detection of sperm is natural phenomena. However, the presence of marks of violence on other parts of her body especially the breast, lower back are very important corroborative piece of evidence to establish the occurrence of rape.”
The Bench also rejected the argument that she couldn’t name all the accused. It said she recognised them by their faces in court and her inability to recall their names wasn’t a reason to doubt her account.
“It further transpires that the prosecutrix could not have identified all the accused persons by their names but behind the dock, she has identified them by their faces, who were involved in commission of gang rape with her, so only due to fact that she could not identify the accused persons by their names, her evidence cannot be doubted.”
Four Men’s Convictions Upheld
The defence also claimed that the men had been falsely accused because of village politics. But the court said there wasn’t enough evidence to support this claim. Two witnesses also stated that the man allegedly linked to the woman was her full-blood brother.
The Bench upheld the trial court’s decision and dismissed the appeals, stating:
“In view of the aforesaid discussion and reasons, we find that learned trial court has committed no error of law in convicting the appellants for the offence under section 376(D) of IPC, which is, hereby, upheld and confirmed. We do not find any merits in these appeals, which stands dismissed.”
Hemento Singh alias Hemant Singh alias Hato Singh remains in custody. The other three men, Ramnath Singh alias Munda Singh, Vibhishan Singh alias Pnchu Singh and Fagu Hansda alias Sufal Hansda, were on bail.
