Conviction on sole testimony of victim
The legal position regarding the conviction on sole testimony of prosecutrix even without any corroboration is now well settled.
In a large number of cases, the accused was convicted on the sole testimony of the prosecutrix without any corroboration.
Statement must be worthy of credence
If the statement of the prosecutrix is found to be worthy of credence and is reliable it requires no corroboration. The court can convict the accused on the sole testimony of the prosecutrix.
In State of Himachal Pradesh v. Raghubir Singh (1993 SCR (1)1087), the Supreme Court (SC) held that there is no legal compulsion to look for any other evidence to corroborate the evidence of the prosecutrix before recording an order of conviction. Evidence has to be weighed and not counted. Conviction can be recorded on the sole testimony of the prosecutrix, if her evidence inspires confidence and there is absence of circumstances which militate against her veracity.
In State of Orissa v. Thakara Besra and Another (AIR 2002 SC 1963), it was held that rape is not mere a physical assault, rather it often distracts the whole personality of the victim. The rapist degrades the very soul of the helpless female and, therefore, the testimony of the prosecutrix must be appreciated in the background of the entire case and in such cases, non – examination even of other witnesses may not be a serious infirmity, particularly where the witnesses had not seen the commission of the offence.
Some other decisions are as follows:
- Vijay @ Chinee v State of Madhya Pradesh (2010 (8) SCC 191)
- State of Maharashtra v Chandraprakash Kewalchand Jain (AIR 1990 SC 658)
- State of U P v Pappu @Yunus and Another (AIR 2005 SC 1248)
- State of Punjab v Gurmit Singh and Others (AIR 1996 SC 1393)
Mitigating circumstance must be absent
In short, there is no legal compulsion to look for corroboration of the evidence of the prosecutrix before recording an order of conviction. Evidence has to be weighed and not counted. The accused can be convicted based on the sole testimony of the prosecutrix, if her evidence inspires confidence and there is absence of circumstances which militate against her veracity.
