Rape accused should not be discharged for absence of allegation at FIR stage: Delhi HC
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi High Court has said an accused should not be discharged of the offence of rape merely because the victim had not levelled the allegation at the stage of the FIR.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said the victim's statement before a magistrate disclosing the offence of rape shall be sufficient to frame charges under section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and courts must consider the "aftermath" of such an incident, which causes physical and emotional trauma to the victim and that at times, she might not be in an emotional or physical state to take an immediate stand against the assailant.
The judge emphasised that the victim's statement should be viewed from a considerate and liberal perspective at the time of framing charges and an "overzealous approach" to conclude the entire case by appreciating evidence even before it begins is fatal to the case as well as to justice and the faith of the victim.
"Many a times, a person may not be in an emotional or physical state to take an immediate stand against the assailant or to go through further trauma of investigation by the police or through an intrusive medical examination, and an accused should not merely be discharged under section 376 because the prosecutrix has not stated about the same in her FIR or during MLC (medico-legal case)," the court said in its order dated November 23.
"An overzealous approach to appreciate evidence in detail and conclude the entire case even before it begins is fatal not only to the case at hand, but, at times, to justice and the faith of the victim in the criminal justice system," it added.
The court's order came on a revision petition filed by the State assailing a trial court's order that discharged an accused under section 376 of the IPC while framing charges for other offences.
The trial court had said no case was made out to proceed against the accused for the charge of rape because the prosecutrix "never stated in her complaint that she was raped" and also did not mention it in the MLC, and the allegation was made only in her statement under section 164 (recording of confessions and statements by magistrate) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Setting aside the decision, the high court observed that at the stage of framing charges, the trial court must not venture into the appreciation of evidence when it is bound to frame charges where there is a prima facie case to show that an offence has been committed.
"In the given facts, a charge under section 376, IPC could have been framed solely on the basis of the statement made under section 164, CrPC even if such an allegation was not made in the FIR or in the statement under section 161, CrPC (examination of witnesses by police). This is so because in offences like rape, where only the victim is the witness in majority of the cases, the statement made by the victim should be looked at from a considerate and liberal perspective at the time of framing charges," the judge said.
"A statement made under section 164, CrPC disclosing the offence of rape shall be sufficient to frame charges under section 376 of the IPC," the court said.
It allowed the State's petition and framed a charge under section 376, IPC against the accused, in addition to the other charges already framed against him.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
