New Delhi: In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court has ruled that the statement of a woman can be enough to establish that she has been raped.
It's a ruling that could go a long way in encouraging rape victims to come out in the open and speak up and in punishing rape accused.
The Supreme Court while convicting a rape accused stated that a person can be convicted of rape solely on the basis of evidence given by a rape victim.
The ruling came on an appeal filed by Om Prakash from UP, who was sentenced to 10-year rigorous imprisonment by the trial court for raping a pregnant woman in 1985.
"For the first time, the Supreme Court has given a landmark verdict on this point. It says if the antecedent of the victim is good and her credibility impeccable, then there is no reason to disbelief her. And the accused should be punished on the single testimony of the victim," M P Shorwala, advocate for the accused, said.
Many feel that this is a verdict which will enable rape victims to speak out. In fact, the Supreme Court itself said in its judgment: "In India, women have a tendency to conceal such offence because it involves her prestige as well as prestige of her family. Only in a few cases, the victim girl or the family members have the courage to go before the police station and lodge a case."
Giving a new direction to the law that deals with rape in the country, the SC has also advised all trial courts in the country to treat a victim's statement as gospel truth.
In fact, the court has also said that in absence of medical evidence, the court is to rely on the statement of the victim.
Next Page: A look at some of the recent rape cases.
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