The Supreme Court has reversed the acquittal of a man and asked him to surrender to serve the 10-year sentence imposed on him by a sessions court for the rape of a nine-year-old Dalit child.
The court said minor discrepancies in the testimonies of the victim cannot be a ground for giving a clean chit to the accused.
“When it comes to inconsistencies and omissions in testimonies, which is one of the primary grounds on which the reasoning of the high court rests, it is well recognised that human perception, memory and narration are imperfect. As such, the court has consistently held that minor inconsistencies or trivial discrepancies in the testimony of witnesses do not by themselves make the evidence unreliable,” the apex court said in a judgment.
The ruling came while allowing an appeal by the Himachal Pradesh government against a high court judgment that had acquitted the accused, citing inconsistencies and doubts over the child’s ability to travel 16km within two hours.