Rape victim’s lack of mental maturity no reason to acquit convict: HC

The Madras High Court pre-empted an attempt made by a rape convict to escape from the clutches of law by claiming that the victim did not have the mental maturity expected of a 40-year-old and therefore no credence should be given to her complaint.

Dismissing a criminal appeal filed by him, Justice S. Vaidyanathan said, “Mental immaturity is different from mental illness. If a person is mentally ill, there would not be clarity in his/her statement. Here, the victim has given a brief statement of what had happened to her. Though, she has not got the reasoning capacity of a 40-year-old, she has got the capacity of understanding as to what is happening around her.”