Hriday Shah
The Meghalaya High Court recently upheld the conviction of a boy who had intoxicated his girlfriend in order to satisfy his lust and committed aggravated penetrative sexual assault.
The minor victim girl and the accused were in a romantic relationship, however, following the minor’s rejection to pursue a sexual relationship, the accused used a sedate drug in the tea to commit aggravated penetrative sexual assault on the girl.
The accused argued that since the sexual relationship was based on love with the victim’s consent, the 20-year sentence under Section 376(2) of the IPC could be reduced to 10 years.
The bench, which consisted of Chief Justice S. Vaidyanathan and Justice W. Diengdoh, determined that the medical report adequately supports the victim’s testimony and declined to alter the punishment meted out to the Accused.
The Court said that “though there was a love affair between the accused and the victim girl, owing to the victim girl’s repeated refusal to have sexual intercourse, the accused had mixed some intoxicated element in the tea and made her asleep with part consciousness and thereafter, he had committed the offence of aggravated sexual assault on the victim girl, which is highly condemnable, amounting to betrayal of the girl.”
The argument that there was a delay in filing the FIR against the accused was also dismissed by the court. Based on the Supreme Court’s ruling in State of Himachal Pradesh v. Prem Singh [AIR 2009 SC 1010], the Chief Justice’s judgement noted that the prosecution’s case could not be dismissed due to delay of a FIR filing because this was a case involving a minor girl that had to be handled with great care. When it comes to filing an FIR within a particular time frame, there are no rigid requirements. The Court denied the appeal in light of the aforementioned observations.
Case Name: Shri Mihkahtngen Sarubai v. State of Meghalaya & The Investigating Officer
Diary No.: Crl.A.No.31/2023 with Crl.M.C.No.94/2023
Bench: Chief Justice S. Vaidyanathan and Justice W. Diengdoh