“A statement of rape is extremely humiliating experience for a woman and unless she is a victim of sexual assault, she would ordinarily not blame anyone for the alleged crime.” In the context of Indian culture, a woman-victim of sexual aggression, would rather suffer silently than falsely implicate someone, said the Tripura High Court while upholding conviction of a man accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl. Pramanik Dey was convicted by the POCSO Court under Section 363 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 of POCSO Act and sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
The Chief Justice Sanjay Karol observed that the deposition by the girl (prosecutrix) is absolutely clear and consistent with regard to the nature of the events which took place. Referring to Radhakrishna Nagesh vs. State of Andhra Pradesh, the bench observed that, while appreciating the evidence of the prosecutrix, the court must keep in mind that in the context of the values prevailing in the country, particularly in rural India, it would be unusual for a woman to come up with a false story of being a victim of sexual assault so as to implicate an innocent person. It observed:
“In the instant case, one finds the parties to hail from the remotest corner of the State of Tripura. In the context of Indian culture, a woman-victim of sexual aggression, would rather suffer silently than falsely implicate someone, for a statement of rape is extremely humiliating experience for a woman and unless she is a victim of sexual assault, she would ordinarily not blame anyone for the alleged crime.” In his Section 313 CrPC statement, the accused had told the Trial court that it was the victim who pressurized him to elope with her.
In this regard, the court said that it was his duty to furnish some reasonable explanation of the stand taken by him. While upholding the Trial court judgment, the court further observed: “Why would the prosecutrix elope with the accused? They are not from the same village or the families known to each other or the victim and the accused having studied in the same school or having similar background or met in the past. What would a poor girl hailing from a remote area do when she is threatened and intimidated and forcibly taken away in a vehicle?”