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State of M.P. v. Munna @ Shambhoo Nath

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 658 of 2011)Decided 18 Sept 2015
Criminal Appeal No. 658 of 2011
Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose · Justice R.K. Agrawal

Background

A 13-year-old girl (per the prosecution) was allegedly raped by the accused, who was the son of her family's landlord, in 1991. The trial court convicted the accused and sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment, relying on medical and school-certificate evidence that the girl was under 16 (meaning consent would be legally irrelevant). The High Court of Madhya Pradesh overturned the conviction and acquitted him, finding the prosecution's evidence of age unreliable and concluding the encounter was consensual. The State appealed this acquittal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the evidence on both age and consent. It found that the school certificate was unreliable because no one who actually recorded the birth date was examined, the doctor who conducted the bone (ossification) test was never produced to be cross-examined, and even the mother's testimony about the girl's age was inconclusive and suggested she may have been 15-16, not under 16. Citing its own precedents that approximate ages unsupported by solid proof cannot sustain a conviction, the Court held the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the girl was under 16, and therefore the High Court was right to treat the intercourse as consensual. The appeal against acquittal was dismissed.

Lesson Learnt

In cases turning on a victim's exact age, the prosecution must prove it with solid, cross-examined evidence (not just a school register entry or an unproven medical opinion): vague or approximate age evidence will not be enough to sustain a conviction, especially where consent is the central issue.

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

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