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Shillong, Oct 30: The Meghalaya High Court has upheld 24 years rigorous imprisonment for a man who raped his 14-year-old stepdaughter, observing that he completely breached the relationship of trust and took undue advantage when his wife was not at home.
Dismissing his appeal, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice W Diengdoh said the survivor’s evidence is reliable, trustworthy and credible and is sufficient by itself to convict, but in this case, it is fully corroborated by her mother, doctors and his own confession.
As per prosecution, the incident took place on a Sunday in September 2016 at around 8 to 8.30 am at Laitjynrai Rangblang in South West Khasi Hills. The mother had gone out to collect her daily wage dues, leaving her daughter with her second husband and asking them to get ready for Church.
It was alleged that the man first hit his wife on the face making her unconscious, then asked his stepdaughter to lie down on the bed, removed her underwear, sexually assaulted her and threatened her not to disclose the incident to anyone.
When the mother returned around noon, she found her daughter lying unconscious outside the house with her hands tied behind her back to a wooden post that supports the house near the bed, with blood on her mouth and legs and bleeding from her private parts.
The mother untied her, splashed water on her face and took her to her sister’s house where the girl disclosed the rape. Due to financial constraints, she could take her daughter to Mawkyrwat Community Health Centre only the next night. The girl was complaining of inability to urinate and severe stomach pain.
Doctors at Mawkyrwat CHC advised immediate shifting to Shillong. On request of the mother to keep her for a night, she was shifted the next day in the CHC ambulance to Ganesh Das Hospital in Shillong where she remained admitted for about a week.
At Ganesh Das Hospital, the doctor who first examined her said local examination could not be done as the girl was crying and refused due to severe pain. On the next day, her genital examination was done in the operation theatre under sedation. The examination revealed that her labia were inflamed and there was a hymenal tear at 5 o’clock position, confirming sexual assault.
A gynaecologist who also examined her in the operation theatre corroborated the same injuries.
The High Court noted that there was no challenge in cross-examination to what the survivor deposed about sexual assault, and there was no explanation as to why a mother would falsely implicate her own husband.
The man was earlier convicted by the Special POCSO Court at Mawkyrwat in 2021 and sentenced to 24 years in jail with Rs 3 lakh compensation to the survivor.
Upholding the conviction, the High Court directed the District Legal Services Authority, South West Khasi Hills to submit a report within six weeks on whether the Rs 3 lakh compensation has been disbursed to the survivor.
