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The State of Jharkhand vs Shailendra Kumar Rai @ Pandav Rai

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 1139Decided 31 Oct 2022
Criminal Appeal No. 1441 of 2022
Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud · Hima Kohli

Background

On 7 November 2004, the respondent allegedly entered the victim's house in a Jharkhand village, raped her, and, when she cried for help, poured kerosene on her and set her on fire. She survived long enough to give a detailed statement (her "fard beyan"/dying declaration) naming the respondent before later dying of her burn injuries. The Sessions Court convicted him of rape and murder based on her dying declaration and sentenced him to life imprisonment, but the Jharkhand High Court acquitted him on appeal, partly relying on a medical opinion (based on a "two-finger test") suggesting no proof of rape. The State appealed to the Supreme Court against the acquittal.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held the victim's dying declaration was reliable, consistent, and admissible under Section 32(1) of the Evidence Act, since it directly related to the cause of her death and the circumstances leading to it, and found no material contradiction undermining it. The Court held that the absence of medical evidence confirming rape does not mean no rape occurred: the victim's own clear, consistent dying declaration was sufficient. Exercising its power to reverse an acquittal to prevent a miscarriage of justice, the Court restored the Sessions Court's conviction and life sentence. In its "parting remarks," the Court strongly condemned the "two-finger test" (per vaginum examination) used by the Medical Board on the victim, holding it has no scientific basis, re-traumatizes survivors, violates their dignity and privacy, and is irrelevant to proving or disproving rape since a woman's sexual history has no bearing on whether she was raped. It directed the Union and State Governments to circulate existing medical guidelines banning the test, train healthcare providers, revise medical school curricula to remove the test, and treat any doctor who conducts it in violation of these directions as guilty of misconduct.

Lesson Learnt

A credible, consistent dying declaration can by itself sustain a conviction even without corroborating medical proof of rape, and a survivor's sexual history or "habituation" is legally irrelevant to whether rape occurred. Separately, this judgment makes the ban on the regressive "two-finger test" in sexual assault examinations binding nationwide, with any doctor who performs it now committing professional misconduct.

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

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