IMPORTANT POINT
Corroboration of a minor survivor's testimony is not essential in cases of sexual offences, and the absence of motive for false accusation can be a significant factor in establishing guilt.

JUDGMENT

Sanjib Banerjee, CJ. - The appellant has been convicted for having committed an offence punishable under Section 376(2)(f), (i) and (n) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 read with Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Following the judgment of conviction of December 11, 2019, the appellant was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and fined Rs.50,000/- by an order of December 31, 2019. In default of the payment of the fine, the appellant is to undergo simple imprisonment for a further six months.

2. The principal ground urged on behalf of the appellant is that there was no material to corroborate the wild allegations of the 13-year-old survivor and the discrepancies between her initial statement recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and her testimony in Court were too stark to be overlooked or ignored by the trial court. In addition, it is contended on behalf of the appellant that contrary to what was recorded in the first information report that the appellant had confessed to the commission of the offence before the Dorbar Shnong, there was no allusion to such confession by the headman of the village and, indeed, the headman testified that he had no inkling as to whether the appellant had committed the offence or not.

3. The third ground canvassed by the appellant is that the survivor bore a grudge against the appellant as the survivor testified that the appellant did not love her and the appellant was given to assaulting the survivor and the survivor's mother upon being drunk.

4. The appellant appears to be the step-father of the survivor, though it does not come out through clearly whether the appellant had married the survivor's mother or the appellant and the survivor's mother were living-in together. The FIR, which was lodged by the brother of the survivor's mother, referred to an incident that took place on October 23, 2016. The FIR, which was written in hand by the maker himself, referred to the village Dorbar having caused an inquiry into the incident whereupon the appellant had apparently admitted that he had committed the offence and the village Dorbar decided to hand over the matter to the police.

5. In her statement recorded under Section 164 of the Code, the survivor referred to the first incident when she was washing utensils outside her house and her step-father carried her inside the house, laid her down on the bed, spread her thighs and inserted his penis inside her vagina while he put a dao down by her head. The survivor claimed that her younger sister, who was then aged about five, saw the incident. According to the survivor, after the appellant had finished with the survivor, he asked the survivor to cook for the appellant.

6. The survivor also narrated that on another occasion, on a Sunday, while the survivor was returning with water that she had gone to fetch, 'my step-father came and took the vessel away from my head and laid me down near the river and raped me.'

7. In course of her testimony at the trial, the survivor referred to a third incident of the appellant raping the survivor by the river when they had gone fishing at the Umtyngieng River. Apart from the clear description of the two incidents that she referred to in her statement under Section 164 of the Code, she made an additional claim pertaining to the third incident. Much is sought to be made out on behalf of the appellant regarding the third incident reported by the survivor only in court and not in her original statement. It is also pointed out on behalf of the appellant that the survivor had also responded to a question put to her in her cross-examination that when she had gone fishing with the appellant 'there were many people near the river.'

8. The appellant contends that there was no ocular evidence to corroborate the survivor's allegations. The appellant refers to the detailed medical examination report where the appellant finds nothing of note. However,