The unimpeachable testimony of the victim, supported by medical evidence and witness corroboration, is crucial in establishing guilt in cases of sexual assault.

JUDGMENT :

Dipak Misra, J. - Shastras may proclaim God manifests in the innocent smile of a child, a Philosopher may gaze at the sparkling eyes of a growing child to feel the quintessence of the universe and a poet laureate like Wordsworth may announce with divine solemnity 'Child is the father of man' and yet someone else in nostalgia may remember the house he was born, but here is a sad and unfortunate incident where the appellant succumbing to the most inferior bestial propensities of lowly human nature and exposing his perverse impulse shattered the serene innocence of a eight year girl depriving her of the life-time privilege of cherishment of the childhood memory in posied tranquillity and compelling her to remain in constant despair bearing the burnt of an incurable stigma.

2. The appellant faced trial for commission of an offence u/s 376, Indian Penal Code, for having committed rape on an Adivasi girl aged eight and has been convicted by the learned trial judge. The legality of the said judgment of conviction and order sentencing the appellant to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of eight years and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/-, in default, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of one month, is called in question by the appellant.

3. Stated briefly, the prosecution version is that the victim girl while grazing bullocks in an open field along with other girls had gone to bring the bullocks which had moved to a distant place and her friends had gone. to river Budhabalanga to bring water. The accused-appellant finding her alone forcibly lifted her, committed rape on her causing bleeding, swelling and bruises on her private part. She had worn a koapin and had put on a country towel (Gamchha) to cover upper part of her body, and the said dress was not worn in austerity but because of unavoidable poverty. With blood-stained koapin, bleeding profusely from her private part, tears in her eyes without understanding what had happened to her in complete public gaze of the villagers she carne running and narrated the nightmarish experience to her parents. Her father Jhanka Murmu reported the matter at Kuliana Police Station. The victim girl was sent to Kuliana Health Centre for medical examination. The investigating Officer took up investigation and on completion of the same submitted the charge sheet which ultimately lei to the trial and conviction of the appellant as indicated hereinbefore.

4. The plea of the accused Is one of denial simpliciter.

5. To bring home the charges the prosecution examined 9 witnesses. PW 1 is the Doctor who had collected sample blood from the victim girl and handed over the same to the investigating Officer and had also submitted the blood group report; PW 2 is the Doctor who had examined the victim girl; PW 3 is the victim girl herself; PWs 4 and 5 are the parents of PW 3; PW 6 is another young girl who had accompanied PW 3 to the gracing field; PW 7 Is the paternal aunt; PW 8 is a relation of the victim girl and PW 9 is the Investigating Officer. Apart from the aforesaid witnesses the prosecution brought number of documents on record. On behalf of the defence no evidence was adduced.

6. On consideration of the materials on record, the learned trial Judge found the appellant guilty of the offence and sentenced him as indicated hereinbefore.

7. Mr. P. K. Mishra, learned counsel for the appellant, assailing the judgment has contended that the evidence of the prosecutrix is neither reliable nor trustworthy as the same is replete with contradictions and discrepancies. It is his submission that the Court below has been swayed by the injuries on the victim girl though the said injuries could have been possible for some other reasons. He has also highlighted that the whole occurrence is totally improbable, and tested by the touchstone of probabilities the prosecution case cannot stand close scrutiny. His last submission is that the appellant is a young man and the only earning member of his f