Indian Penal Code, 1860
Section 376—Rape—Evidence of victim/prosecutrix—Reliability of—To convict an accused in the case on the basis of testimony of single/sole witness, his/her testimony should be of the character of wholly reliable and unimpeachable, however, the testimony of the victim/prosecutrix recorded before the trial court is having major dents and contradictions, rendering her testimony 'unreliable' and, therefore, the same should not have been acted upon—Trial court appears to have committed patent illegality in accepting the unreliable testimony of victim/prosecutrix and since she appears to be a consenting party and major at the date and time of the alleged incident, the judgment of the trial court may not be sustained and is liable to be set-aside and the appellant is entitled for benefit of doubts, emerging in the case of the prosecution—Appellant acquitted of charges framed against him under Section 376 of IPC—Appeal allowed.
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