Bilaspur : The Chhattisgarh High Court has reversed a 2017 trial court judgment that had acquitted three individuals in connection with the sexual assault of a nine-year-old girl at a mission school in Koriya district.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal allowed the state’s appeal and sentenced the 50-year-old primary accused to life imprisonment. The court also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on him.
The bench convicted the accused under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code. It held that the testimony of a survivor of sexual assault does not require corroboration as a matter of law. Corroboration, the court clarified, is a rule of prudence and not a mandatory condition for conviction. If the survivor’s evidence is credible, natural, consistent, and trustworthy, it can be relied upon independently.
The judges also observed that in India’s tradition-bound social setting, girls and women are often reluctant to disclose incidents that may affect their dignity, reinforcing the need to treat such testimony with due weight.
Two other school staff members, aged 23 and 36, were convicted under Section 119 of the Indian Penal Code for concealing the design to commit an offence despite being public servants. Each was sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹5,000.
The incident occurred in September 2015 at a mission school hostel in Koriya district. The survivor, a Class 4 student, was assaulted after entering the boys’ washroom because the girls’ washroom was locked. Her mother lodged a complaint at Podi police station after being informed that her daughter was unwell. Medical examination revealed multiple injuries. During the investigation, the survivor identified the primary accused in a test identification parade conducted at Manendragarh sub-jail.
The High Court found that the Baikunthpur trial court had erred in acquitting the accused in its 2017 judgment. It noted that the survivor’s testimony was consistent and supported by the initial medical report as well as Forensic Science Laboratory findings. The evidence, the bench held, was sufficient to sustain conviction.
The court directed all three convicts to surrender before the trial court within two weeks to serve their sentences. It further remarked that the staff members, being public servants, had a statutory duty to prevent the offence but instead chose deliberate concealment.
