Allahabad High Court rules hymen rupture not necessary for rape

Recently, the Allahabad High Court upheld a verdict convicting a man for the rape of a minor. The decision relied heavily on the Tamil Nadu vs Ravi alias Nehru 2006 judgment, which explained that even minor penetration without the hymen being broken can indicate rape. 

This case had previously resulted in a verdict from a special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in 2022, where the defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of an eight-year-old girl. 

Evidence Considered 

The defendant was familiar to the minor survivor, who had identified him in her statements to the magistrate and the trial court. Supporting the evidence given by the victim, medical professionals concluded that signs of redness and a partially torn hymen were indicative of penetration with a hard and blunt object. However, the penetration was not full, leading to partial tearing of the hymen, as the court detailed. 

Changed Sentence 

Although the court deemed the man guilty of the offences under the IPC’s Section 376 and the POCSO Act’s 5/6, the sentence was altered by the High Court. The initial verdict from the special court included life imprisonment and a Rs 50,000 fine, but this was modified to ten years of rigorous imprisonment with the same fine by the High Court’s justices, Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi. 

This reduction in sentence was influenced by the defense counsel’s argument. The lawyer argued that the crime had taken place in 2016, and the convict had already spent seven years in jail. Being the sole breadwinner in his family, his prolonged imprisonment had left his family in hardship. Hence, the defense appealed for a more lenient view. 

Details about the Case 

The First Information Report (FIR) for the case was recorded by the girl’s brother in 2016, a few days after the incident. He accused Suresh of sexually assaulting his young sister. According to the FIR, the girl had been residing with her brother but shifted to her father’s home shortly before the incident. 

In the appeal against the conviction, the defendant’s counsel maintained that the girl was the sole witness whose statement built the prosecution case. However, they claimed the medical evidence could not prove her verbal account. They specifically referred to vaginal and cervical smear pathology reports, which came back negative for spermatozoa. Significantly, they pointed out the medical reports stating her hymen was intact as proof that no rape had actually occurred.

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