Why is in news?
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The turning hostile of a rape survivor should not deter a court from continuing with the trial.
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Neither the accused nor the victim of a sexual assault can make a criminal trial, once the wheels have turned, into a ‘theatre of the absurd’, the Supreme Court has held in a recent judgment.
About the case
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“A criminal trial is but a quest for truth,” a Bench of Justices declared in a judgment pronounced.
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The case dealt with a rape committed on a nine-year-old in Gujarat in 2004.
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The case was registered six months after the incident. The child had turned hostile during the trial.
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She deposed that her injuries were due to a fall.
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However, medical reports and physical examination of her clothes proved rape.
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The court held that ideally the victim, now married, should face the law for lying in her testimony.
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But the court pardoned her, saying she was “barely nine years old on the date of occurrence.
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The occurrence had taken place 14 long years ago
Source
The Hindu