A 48-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for raping a minor nine years ago by a Delhi court which relied solely on the testimony of the victim.
Additional Sessions Judge Gulshan Kumar gave the jail term and also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the south Delhi resident Sajjan Singh for raping the six-year-old girl, who was his neighbour, after calling her to his room on the pretext of giving chocolates in 2004.
The court turned down the argument of Singh's counsel that the accused could not be convicted merely because the girl had said that she was raped by him.
‘It is a well-settled principle of law that conviction can be sustained on the sole testimony of the prosecutrix if it inspires confidence. A plethora of decisions by the Supreme Court would show that once the statement of prosecutrix inspires confidence and is accepted by the court..., no corroboration would be required’ the judge said.
Additional Sessions Judge Gulshan Kumar gave the jail term and also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the south Delhi resident Sajjan Singh for raping the six-year-old girl, who was his neighbour, after calling her to his room on the pretext of giving chocolates in 2004.
The court turned down the argument of Singh's counsel that the accused could not be convicted merely because the girl had said that she was raped by him.
‘It is a well-settled principle of law that conviction can be sustained on the sole testimony of the prosecutrix if it inspires confidence. A plethora of decisions by the Supreme Court would show that once the statement of prosecutrix inspires confidence and is accepted by the court..., no corroboration would be required’ the judge said.