Nagpur Man Who Raped 8-Year-Old Acquitted by HC Because Minor 'Not Horrified'

Nagpur: In a shocking case, a man who had raped an 9-year-old girl was acquitted by the High Court because she did not seem ‘petrified’ after facing assault.

Man Who Raped 8-Year-Old Acquitted

In a judgement that seems quite shocking and bizarre, the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court acquitted a 64-year-old man who had allegedly raped an 8-year-old girl in March, 2019. The accused, Vijay Jawanjal, a resident of Amravati district, had allegedly raped a class 3 student who was playing at a community temple near her home. The girl had told her mother the following day that a man offered her a sweet, then touched her private parts forcibly and that she was in pain. 

‘Minor Not Horrified’: HC's Shocking Grounds for Acquittal 

The judge acquitted the accused on the grounds that the minor victim did not seem horrified by the act and this is strange because something as grave as a rape should have had a traumatic effect on her. Nagpur HC also noted that the medical tests were inconclusive and they also challenged the lower court's order of life sentence.

While acquitting the man, Justice Govinda Sanap of the Nagpur Bench observed, “If such an act (rape) was perpetrated by the accused, it was an egregious act. Such an act would have undoubtedly horrified her. It would have inflicted immense pain and trauma on her. Under ordinary circumstances, she would have fled the spot to her house after such a deplorable act and recounted the incident to her mother."

Highlighting the possibility of the victim's statement being governed by what her mother had ‘taught her’ to say, Justice Govinda Sanap further said, “The girl has stated her mother told her to tell the court that the accused had harassed her, else she would be punished. She stated her mother told her the name of the accused. On that day, she suffered a sunstroke. She has stated there was pain and itching in her private parts. She demolished the evidence of her mother.”