NEW DELHI, May 13: A court here has convicted a man for kidnapping and repeatedly raping his 17-year-old niece, saying the prosecution had established the charges from the “unblemished” testimony of the victim.
Additional Sessions Judge Susheel Bala Dagar was hearing the case against the man accused of luring the victim to accompany him to another city, where he repeatedly raped her for four months in 2017.
Public Prosecutor Yogita Kaushik Dahiya said the victim was kidnapped and compelled by the accused for illicit sexual intercourse.
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“The testimony of the victim child has remained clear and consistent throughout. Thus from her unblemished consistent and trustworthy testimony, the prosecution has established the essential ingredients required to prove the charges against the accused,” the court said in a recent judgment.
Referring to several judicial precedents, the court said that if the victim’s testimony was clear, cogent and trustworthy, her solitary testimony alone proved the guilt.
“The victim has all along stood on firm ground, deposing clearly as to how the incident of aggravated penetrative sexual assault was committed by the accused after seducing her,” it said.
Rejecting the arguments of the defence counsel about some “improvements” in the victim’s testimony, the court said that she categorically stated about never consenting to establish physical relations.
It convicted the accused under the penal provisions of kidnapping and rape along with Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The arguments on sentencing will be heard later.
The court noted that according to the victim’s testimony, the accused fraudulently took her along with him from Delhi by luring her and telling her that “he was her husband”.
“It is a settled law that consent obtained by deceit is no consent and in the present case, it is apparent that the consent of the prosecutrix was obtained by fraud and alluring her to believe that he is her husband,” it said.
The court noted the victim’s statement about the accused not performing any marriage ceremony and instead keeping her in a rented house where he repeatedly and forcibly made physical relations with her. (PTI)
