CASE COMMENT: PURAN CHAND v.

STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

SRI PRASAD. J
BC0160048

INTRODUCTION:

Section 114-A of the Indian Evidence Act 1872 is the result of the rape and acquittal of two police
officers accused of raping a Mathura minor in a police station.1 This prompted parliament to pass the
Penal Law (Amendment) Act 1983 to make rape laws more rigorous and practical. Section 114-A of
the International Energy Agency obliges the court to proceed under the assumption of lack of
consent, if the victim so states in his statement, puts the accused in a potion to induce the court to
refute this presumption, negative that this can lead to conviction. But there are three conditions for
assumption; the first requires proof of sexual relationship 2, the second indicates that the question in
court is whether it was with or without consent, and the third testimony of the victim about the lack
of consent on the planned action.
The Supreme Court, in its judgment Puran Chand v. The state of Himachal Pradesh 3 has dilated the
meaning of section. 114-A4 and decided not to construe this provision in a constraining sense, which
expanded the limits of this section in particular, based only on the testimony of the victim.
In the shadowing paragraphs, the author analyzes the facts, the consequences of the trial and finally
the conclusions.

FACTS OF THE CASE:

Before T.S. Thakur and Gyansudha Misra filed an appeal in Supreme Court against Puran Chand v.
HP State,5 in which the defendant was found guilty and sentenced to seven years' fine of Rs 5,000
and three months for the crime of rape and aggression under art. 375 and sect. 506 IPC, respectively,
by the Court of Session and confirmed by H.C. The brief facts of the case are as follows: A 17-year-
old female victim led her goats to a meadow near her village. The plaintiff grabbed her from behind
while she was sitting on the sidewalk, and then the plaintiff raped her. After all this, he also
threatened her with desperate consequences if she said the same thing to someone. The girl victim
hid the fact that she was raped by her parents for several days, but due to the trauma she received as a
1
Tukaram v. Maharashtra State (1979) 2 SCC 143; AIR 1979 SC 185
2
(a) to (d), article 375 IPC
3
(2014) 5 SCC 689
4
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1586025/
5
Criminal Appeal No. 52 of 2009, HP Superior Court judgment of September 29, 2009
effect of the terrible incident, she forced herself to commit suicide, but in the 'hospital'. Upon
restitution of consciousness, she recounted the entire incident to her father and brother, which finally
led to the termination of the FIR on September 11, 2006, but the incident occurred on 08-20. -2006.
The defendant stated that he was falsely entangled in previous combat and said that the victim's
suicide attempt was actuated by fear of examinations. He also said that the court cannot rely entirely
on the victim's testimony, because the medical report also does not mention, the hold in completing
the FIR was also named as the reason for his statement. must be turned down at Trail Court. But the
trial court found him guilty, and the court's decision was made at the hearing.

ISSUE:

The question before the Supreme Court was whether the crime of rape could be considered proven in
the absence of proof of the crime of rape, especially if the girl's hymen was intact. J. GyanSudha-
Misra replied in the affirmative and supported the verdict.

ANALYSIS:

Judge GS Misra answers the question by stating that although the medical report is the most
important piece of evidence in the history of the prosecution, after reviewing the doctor's testimony,
she concluded that the integrity of the hymen cannot be denied. SC agreed with H.C.'s opinion that
since the time frame is very wide, medical opinion doesn't really matter.
S.C also used circumstantial evidence to investigate the matter and the cross-examination of the
victim helped them believe it. This removed the doubts raised by the defense based on the medical
reports. One of the defense arguments was that the delay in filing the FIR indicated that the charges
were unscrupulous, but this was dismissed because the reason for the delay was sufficient in the eyes
of the courts.
In the most recent lawsuit over the significance of EPA Section 114-A, a simple reading of the article
indicates that the court will assume that there was no consent if the victim does, declares in his
request. Merely Judge GS Misra widened the scope and said, since the section adds weight and
credibility to the victim's claim that she was a victim of the crime of rape, and cannot be interpreted
to conclude that the victim's version should be seen as simply linked to consent. When the crime of
rape has been proven, and this provision implies giving priority to the victim impact statement. So,
the court ruled that if rape was proven, a single victim impact statement could lead to a conviction,
and also highlighted the fact that she had attempted suicide and that not believing in her would lead
to misconduct to the goals of justice.
Finally, the court upheld High court’s judgment based on witness statements, which were
corroborated by circumstantial evidence, and dismissed the defense's claim that the crime was
unlikely.

JUSTIFICATION:

Though the hard impact of this judgement is not justified, but it can be seen in few cases, i.e. Susheel
Kumar v. State of H.P6, Ram Singh v. State of H.P7, Varun Kumar v. State of H.P8, and in Subhash v.
State of H.P9, where Himachal Pradesh High Court believed on the rational of Puran Chand case10
while offending the accused. The Puran Chand case could have brought a change in rules and could
have set a new punishment for the rape cases.
In March 2013, Parliament passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 to amend the IPC to
allow death penalty only in rape cases where the accompanying brutality leads to death or leaves the
victim in a persistent vegetative state, and in cases of repeat offenders. 

On the other hand, it has been argued that imposing death penalty for rape crimes could deter
individuals from committing the offence and therefore help reduce its incidence.  Further, awarding
death penalty allows for retributive justice for the victims. Over the years, various court judgements
have narrowed the application of death penalty to the ‘rarest of rare’ cases and issued criteria to
determine whether the accused deserves a death sentence. This implies that courts can award death
sentence for rape only in exceptional circumstances, which include where the reformation and
rehabilitation of the convict is not possible.

In Puran Chand case the Section 114-A no doubt addresses on the consent part of the woman only
when the offence of rape is proved but it also impliedly would be applicable in a matter of this nature
where the victim girl had gone to the extent of committing suicide due to the trauma of rape and yet
is sought to be disbelieved at the instance of the defence that she weaved out a concocted story even
though she suffered the risk of death after consuming poison. Merely the punishments for minor rape
must be as strong as awarding punishment to the rape which lead he victim to death or vegetative
state. If there is no witness or medical evidence is weak the minor rape victim who has suffered and
being threatened should get justice. Being minor and facing abusement will really hit the victims
hard personally, physically and metally. The court should not grant bail for any of the rape cases.
6
2014 SCC Online HP 5799
7
2016 SCC Online HP 281
8
2015 SCC Online HP 2968
9
2015 SCC Online HP 3634
10
Puran Chand v. State of H.P (n 4) https://indiankanoon.org/doc/189293395/
CONCLUSION:

The court resolved the case with great care, given that the girl was a minor. Even though there were
no eyewitnesses or medical grounds that would help the criminal prosecution version to carefully
read the court to convict the accused. The reason for the lack of conclusive evidence is very
unconscious, since the medical examination was carried out 22 days after the incident, so it is very
possible that they were falsified to the point that they could not be found. This is why the court
should examine the scope of IEA Section 114-A to support its reasoning. Cross-examination of the
victim's statements also suggested precision. The judicial decision was that while the confirmed
medical evidence was weak, it is gaining traction from other intact circumstantial evidence.
This judgement certainly gave a appreciable weightage to the victim’s statement and burnished the
path for convicting the suspect on victim’s unshared statement.