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Birka Shiva v. The State of Telangana

Criminal Appeal · 2025 INSC 863Decided 16 Jul 2025
Criminal Appeal (arising out of SLP(Crl.) No. 1445 of 2025)
Justice Sanjay Karol · Justice Sandeep Mehta

Background

The appellant, a friend of the complainant's family, was convicted by a trial court in 2018 of kidnapping, wrongful confinement and rape of a young woman he had taken from Karimnagar to Hyderabad in August 2012, where the two lived together for roughly two months before her family learned of it. The High Court of Telangana upheld the conviction in 2024 but substantially reduced the sentences. The central factual dispute before the Supreme Court was whether the victim was a minor at the time (which would make consent legally irrelevant) and whether the relationship was in fact consensual.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the victim was a minor (below sixteen or eighteen, depending on the charge) at the relevant time, so the benefit of that doubt had to go to the appellant. On the substantive allegations, the Court found no evidence that the appellant had kidnapped the victim from lawful guardianship, confined her against her will, or had non-consensual intercourse, noting the couple lived together peaceably for about two months without any indication the victim wished to leave. Concluding the prosecution's case was unproven and possibly "concocted," the Court set aside the conviction under Sections 376, 363 and 342 IPC, quashed the High Court's judgment, and acquitted the appellant of all charges.

Lesson Learnt

In cases turning on a victim's age or lack of consent, the prosecution bears the full burden of proving these elements beyond reasonable doubt with reliable documentary evidence (such as school or birth records). Courts will not sustain a conviction built on an unproven assumption of minority or coercion, however serious the underlying allegation.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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