A rape case cannot be quashed sans trial even if results of a DNA test proved that the accused was not the biological father of the victim’s child born supposedly as a consequence of the commission of the crime, the Madras High Court Bench in Madurai has held.
Dismissing a petition filed by an individual accused of raping a 14-year-old girl and making her pregnant at the age of 15, Justice T. Sudanthiram said that a case could not be quashed solely on the basis of medical evidence which was only one part and not the only part of evidence in a criminal case.
He agreed with Government Advocate S. Prabha that the victim should be given a chance to prove her case before the trial rather than quashing it at the threshold.
Two aspects
“There are two aspects to the case. One is whether the accused had any sexual intercourse with the victim girl or not and the other is whether he is responsible for the pregnancy of the victim girl.
“Of course, the DNA test results are in favour of the accused. Yet, this is not the stage to conclude, by drawing an inference from the DNA test results, that the accused did not have any intercourse with the victim girl and he has not committed any offence. Even though the DNA test result is scientifically accurate, it is only a scientific opinion.
“It is for the trial court to decide the issue after considering all the aspects, including the opinion of scientific experts, and after recording the evidence of the witnesses,” the judge observed.
He refused to get carried away with the petitioner’s argument that the DNA tests conducted by not one but two different laboratories had proved that he was not the biological father of the female child.
The tests were conducted at the forensic science laboratories in Chennai and Hyderabad following orders passed by a Mahila court here at the petitioner’s instance.
He was booked by the Thirumangalam police near here in 2006 on the basis of a complaint lodged by the victim’s father who reportedly came to know about the incident only after his daughter, then studying in Standard seven, was in an advance stage of pregnancy.
The complainant had accused the petitioner of having raped his daughter inside an electric motor room in an agricultural field.
The victim had given birth to the child only after the police filed a charge sheet.
The case was now being tried before the Mahila court.
