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IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
DEBANGSU BASAK, CHAITALI CHATTERJEE DAS
Goutam Roy – Appellant
Versus
State Of West Bengal – Respondent
JUDGMENT :
CHAITALI CHATTERJEE DAS, J.
1. This appeal has been filed under Section 374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 against the judgement and order dated December 2, 2019 passed in POCSO case No. 17 of 2018 by the POCSO Court-cum-Additional Sessions Judge, 2nd Court, Cooch Behar convicting the accused/appellant under Section 6 of the said Act and the order dated December 3, 2019 sentencing him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 15 years.
Fact of the case
2. The prosecution case in a nutshell is that the accused is the father of the victim girl and approximately 10 years ago the wife of accused left him and went to Durgapur. The two sons of the accused are residing at Rajasthan. One day the accused return home in intoxicated condition and tortured the victim physically, even he tried to snatch all the money which victim got under beneficial scheme of Government. Victim informed the wife of de-facto complainant few days back of the date of lodging the complaint, the accused since few months was committing rape forcibly upon whom. On hearing this, the wife of de-facto complainant tried to inform the incident at concerned place but being requested by the victim she did not
The conviction under the POCSO Act was overturned due to the victim's unreliable testimony and lack of corroborative medical evidence.
Girl child – Once testimony of victim girl is not found to be of sterling quality, same may not be utilized, without corroboration, for the purpose of convicting appellant for a lesser offence.
The conviction can be sustained solely on the victim's credible testimony under POCSO, even without corroboration, emphasizing the need for sensitivity in child victim cases.
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