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Rape possible even in the absence of injuries: SC

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Agencies

Posted: Jul 10, 2009 at 2242 hrs IST
Supreme Court

New Delhi An accused can be convicted for rape even if there are no injuries on the private parts of the victim as the same does not amount to consensual sex, the Supreme Court has ruled.

"Corroborative evidence is not an imperative component of judicial credence in every case of rape nor the absence of injuries on the private parts of the victim can be construed as evidence of consent," a bench of Justices V S Sirpurkar and R M Lodha said.

The bench passed the ruling while rejecting the argument of convict Rajender alias Raju who claimed that absence of any injuries on the victims' private parts indicated that she consented to the sex and that the charge of rape was not corroborated by any other evidence except the testimony of the victim.

The apex court said that in rape cases the sole testimony of the witness without any corroboration can be relied on as rarely would a self-respecting Indian woman accuse a man of raping her.

"In the context of Indian culture, a woman-victm of sexual aggression would rather suffer silently than to falsely implicate somebody. Any statement of rape is an extremely humilating experience for a woman and until she is a victim of sex crime, she would not blame anyone but the real culprit.

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false rape accusations by Jones on 11 Jul 2009

In America, innocent men are falsely convicted of rape all the time, based on nothing more than her word. There is a silent epidemic of false rape accusations. Even when the woman is caught lying she never does much jail time.This is what feminists do everywhere they are allowed to come to power. Men will soon be second class citizens compared to women in your country if you don't take a hard stand against frivolous rape accusations now.

males beware by kirit shah on 11 Jul 2009

this is a good observation of the court if all the complaints r honest. there is a growing feeling of openness, unsatisfaction of the married life, etc. in our society. with more rights in the hands of womanfolk and education and the earning power, woman these days tend to live independent lives. on many ocassions there is consent for such acts on both the sides and when one wants to part ways sometimes out of some grievance there is a chance to implicate male and harass him. such cases should be taken care of. noone should be punished wrongly by such observations. males should now onwards beware of such acts as there r chances of getting implicated and punished.

Unsafe Women by Vinod C. Dixit on 11 Jul 2009

One would find that hardly a day is passed without a news-report on Rape. It is clear that rape is a sexual as well as cultural attack which has become a great social problem today. The negative social attitude towards the victims of such cases creates serious psychological problems and people look down upon a victim of rape, whereas a woman who has gone through such a traumatic experience needs social and emotional support. Public display of big hoardings only serves to excite the young minds. Laws alone cannot put an end to evils that are endemic in the social structure; the government can at least make some attempt to take its own enactments seriously. We need to focus on the fact that insufficient attention is paid to the prevention of rape by planners, administrators and law enforcement agencies. Law must demonstrate that it will come down with a heavy hand on offenders.VINOD C. DIXIT

MERI AWAZ SUNO ! by rohit on 11 Jul 2009

Scared of the contempt of court,[ maybe some judgment by some honorable judge of the apex court has made putting forth your opinion on web a offense]i strangle my voice voluntarily at least i am happy i am not a idiot as indicated by another judgment of the honorable supreme court of mera bharat mahan. i

Perfect and convincing ruling by the Apex Court by Dr. Divyesh Raythatha on 11 Jul 2009

A complain made by any Indian woman should be seriously considered because in our culture no self-respecting lady victim would blame somebody for rape. Rape experience by a woman, is so humiliating that the rape victim may not complain and the unpunished rapist will continue to attempt on another victim. It happens that the victim won't complain with the fear that friends, neighbors, co-workers, relatives will come to know of the rape case because of the publicity in the mass media (Matured people in Mass Media may not publish the name of the victim). Moreover, our society believe the rape victim is equally guilty as the rapist – This attitude can disgrace/stigmatize the victim of rape for many years. The experience is so much shocking and disgusting as it might spoil the entire life of the victim. I agree with the above ruling of our Supreme Court.

NEW Medical Jurisprudence? by Dr.G.Srinivasan on 11 Jul 2009

Here the SC assumes that All women are self respecting and all men who rape them are not !!!!! The injuries or bruises on the private parts are only one of the evidences the injuries on the other parts are other corroborating ones without which no rape can be assumed .This is what medical jurisprudence says

Rape with out injury on private parts. by P.S.Panwar on 11 Jul 2009

Honorable SC should have considered the change of attitude with time in todays condition and change of moral values of the Indian culture. It is very much possible to implicate the man. Rape does not require all the time use of brute physical force so the question of injuries does not arise.

ab dekhoongee by wow on 11 Jul 2009

SC now has given a tool to long awaiting score settlers. In Indian society it is very common to label any level of allegations for even petty reasons. SC has given a sharp device to such people. Now a new mafia will crop up having male and female members on its roll. Many false cases will soon come up as is done in SC/ST law. JAI HO

..rarely would a self-respecting Indian woman accuse a man of raping her by Ice on 11 Jul 2009

I agree that absence of injuries doesn't necessarily mean consensus but just relying on the victim's testimony with the sole belief that "rarely would a self-respecting Indian woman accuse a man of raping her", would give a lot of power to the pseudo victim to accuse anyone for personal grudge, political or financial gains. The Supreme Court should refrain from making statements on “beliefs” and should solely rely on facts. Remember! Justice is blind, and should remain that way!

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