GANGTOK: The Sikkim High Court has acquitted POCSO accused Milan Kumar Rai on grounds that the rape victim suffers certain disabilities and is a patient with catatonic schizophrenia.
In a judgment passed by the bench comprising Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai and Justice Bhaskar Raj Pradhan on September 30, the Court observed, “We are unhesitant to hold that the prosecution has failed to establish the case beyond reasonable doubt
as required. The appeal is allowed. The impugned judgment and order on sentence are set aside. The appellant is set free if he is not required in any other case.”
37-year-old Milan Kumar Rai was convicted by the Trial Court under Sections 376(2)(n) and 376(3) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) as well as under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO) for raping a minor in 2017.
The incident came to light much later, and the victim’s family lodged an FIR on May 2, 2020. The delay in the filing of an FIR was because the victim failed to give any exact date or time of the incident.
The Court observed, “It would be difficult to conclude with absolute certainty that what the victim states in her deposition is not coloured by hallucination as she was certainly suffering from catatonic schizophrenia. There are other pieces of evidence which suggest that there could be other reasons which could have led to the present prosecution. Although this evidences does not inspire us to believe them with absolute certainty nevertheless it is evidence led by the prosecution and they are bound by it.”
“We are required to hold a person guilty only after the prosecution convincingly lays before the court clear evidence to establish the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt. The prosecution has failed to do so. This may have been because of the delay in lodging the FIR. We cannot base our judgment on surmises and conjectures,” the Court observed.
The high court further observed, “On a reading of the 164 CrPC statement recorded of the victim as well as the deposition, it is noticed that both are extremely cryptic giving no scope to us to weigh the truthfulness of the statements. The statement and the deposition although both cryptic vary in their details. It would be difficult to conclude with absolute certainty that what the victim states in her deposition is not coloured by hallucination as she was certainly suffering from catatonic schizophrenia. There is other evidence which suggests that there could be other reasons which could have led to the present prosecution.”
“Although these evidences does not inspire us to believe them with absolute certainty nevertheless it is evidence led by the prosecution and they are bound by it. The other evidence led by the prosecution does not take the case further and it is unclear even at the end of the trial as to when exactly where and how the incident/incidents occurred,” the Court stated.
After the judgment by the Sikkim High Court on September 30, 2022, Milan Kumar Rai, who hails from West Sikkim, was set free from all related charges.
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