Mere Medical Evidence Of Sexual Intercourse Insufficient To Convict For Rape, Direct Evidence Must Connect Accused To Act: J&K High Court

The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has ruled that mere medical evidence confirming sexual intercourse is insufficient to establish guilt under the POCSO Act or rape charges. There must be direct or circumstantial evidence connecting the accused to the act, observed Justice Sanjay Dhar while quashing charges against one Basit Bashir, accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting two minor girls.The Court emphasized that the prosecution failed to link the petitioner to the alleged crimes, despite medical reports confirming the victims had engaged in sexual intercourse. Background:The case stemmed from an FIR registered after the father of a 14-year-old girl reported her missing. The complainant alleged that his daughter and her friend (both minors) had left home and were later found to have been sexually assaulted. The police investigation accused Bashir of enticing the girls into his vehicle, kidnapping them, and committing penetrative sexual assault under Section 376 of the IPC and Section 4 of the POCSO Act. The Special Judge (POCSO Court) framed charges against Bashir in March 2022, prompting him to challenge the order before the High Court, arguing that the prosecution had no evidence linking him to the alleged offences. Court's Key Observations: Justice Dhar scrutinized the statements of the two minor girls recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC. Both victims stated they had voluntarily left home to visit a market and later accepted a lift from the accused due to the unavailability of transport. They explicitly denied any coercion or inducement by Bashir.The Court noted, “The girls boarded the vehicle of their own volition, uninfluenced by any promise or allurement from the petitioner. Their statements contradict the prosecution's claim of kidnapping under Section 363 IPC."Furthermore, the family members' testimonies also failed to support the kidnapping charge, as they admitted the girls had left home willingly. Observing that medical Evidence Alone Cannot Prove Rape Justice Dhar noted that while medical reports confirmed the victims had engaged in sexual intercourse, he underscored that mere medical opinion, without corroborative evidence, cannot pin the blame on the accused. The girls' statements under Section 164 CrPC did not allege sexual assault by Bashir, and no forensic evidence (e.g., DNA or spermatozoa traces) linked him to the act, the court pointed. Justice Dhar remarked, “The prosecution's case collapses in the absence of any oral or scientific evidence connecting the petitioner to the alleged sexual assault." Extensively citing the Supreme Court precedents like Union of India v. Prafulla Kumar Samal, Dilawar Balu Kurane, and *Sajjan Kumar v. CBI the court reiterated that courts must sift and weigh evidence at the charge-framing stage but avoid a *"roving enquiry. Charges can only be framed if the material discloses grave suspicion supported by evidence and the prosecution must establish prima facie ingredients of the offence as mere suspicion is insufficient, Justice Dhar underlined. The Court found that the Special Judge had acted as a post office for the prosecution without critically evaluating gaps in the evidence as no witness testified to seeing the accused with the girls and the victims' accounts did not implicate Bashir in kidnapping or assault. “Therefore, even if the material collected by the Investigating Agency during the investigation of the case remains unrebutted, the same is not sufficient to presume that the petitioner/accused has committed any offence nor does it raise any grave suspicion about the involvement of the petitioner in the alleged occurrence”, the court maintained. In alignment with these observations Justice Dhar set aside the Special Judge's order, discharging Bashir and dismissing the challan. Case Title: Basit Bashir Vs UT Of J&K Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (JKL) 237Click Here To Read/Download Judgment

Mere Medical Evidence Of Sexual Intercourse Insufficient To Convict For Rape, Direct Evidence Must Connect Accused To Act: J&K High Court

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