Arijit Pasayat, J.

Sexual violence apart from being a dehumanizing act is an unlawful intrusion on the right of privacy and sanctity of a female. It is a serious blow to her supreme honour and offends her self-esteem and dignity — it degrades and humiliates the victim and where the victim is a helpless innocent child or a minor, it leaves behind a traumatic experience. A rapist not only causes physical injuries but more indelibly leaves a scar on the most cherished possession of a woman i.e. her dignity, honour, reputation and not the least her chastity. Rape is not only a crime against the person of a woman, it is a crime against the entire society. It destroys, as noted by this Court in Shri Bodhisttwa Gautam vs. Miss Subhra Chakraborty (AIR 196 SC 922) , the entire psychology of a woman and pushes her into deep emotional crisis. It is a crime against basic human rights, and is also violative of the victims most cherished of the Fundamental Rights, namely, the Right to Life contained in Article 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (in short the Constitution) The Courts are, therefore, expected to deal with cases of sexual crime against women with utmost sensitivity. Such cases need to be dealt with sternly and severely. A socially sensitized judge, in our opinion, is a better statutory armour in cases of crime against women than long clauses of penal provisions, containing complex exceptions and provisos.

2. The State of Punjab questions acquittal of the respondent (hereinafter referred to as the accused) who was charged for commission of offence punishable under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short the IPC) .

3. We do not propose to mention name of the victim. Section 228-A of IPC makes disclosure of identity of victim of certain offences punishable. Printing or publishing name of any matter which may make known the identity of any person against whom an offence under Sections 376, 376-A, 376-B, 376-C, or 376-D is alleged or found to have been committed can be punished. True it is, the restriction, does not relate to printing or publication of judgment by High Court or Supreme Court. But keeping in view the social object of preventing social victimization or ostracism of the victim of a sexual offence for which Section 228-A has been enacted, it would be appropriate that in the judgments, be it of this Court. High Court or lower Court, the name of the victim should not be indicated. We have chosen to describe her as victim in the judgment. (See State of Karnataka vs. Puttaraja (2003 (8) Supreme 364) .

4. Prosecution version as unfolded during trial is as follows :

On 1.10.1985 the mother of the victim PW-4 lodged information with the police that 17-18 days back the accused had committed rape on her daughter PW-7. According to the information lodged, the victim had told her mother after coming from house of the accused that she was forcibly dragged away by the accused while she was cleaning utensils and was raped. At the time of occurrence wife of the accused was absent and taking advantage of her absence, the accused committed the lustful act. As the father of the victim PW-5 was lying ill seriously they did not think it proper to inform him and when he recovered from illness, and the police had come to the village for investigating into some other case, information was lodged. The victim-girl was sent for medical examination and she was examined by PW-2. After completion of investigation, charge sheet was placed and accused faced trial. The denied the accusations and pleaded false implication. It was stated that the mother of the victim had taken some money as advance for serving as maid servant and as she did not work and refused to refund the money, a suit was filed for recovery of the amount and, therefore, with a view to avoid payment false accusation has been made. The trial Court placed reliance on the evidence of the prosecution witnesses and convicted the accused of the offence punishable under Sect