By Astha Bhumish Shah 

Based on the sole testimony of the victim, the Meghalaya High Court upheld the conviction of an accused for committing the offence of aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the POCSO Act. The Court said that the accused can be convicted based on the sole testimony of the victim if the victim’s testimony is found to be credit-worthy, unblemished, and inspires the confidence of the court. There is no need to examine other “vital witnesses” once the testimony of the victim is sufficient to prove the guilt of the accused. In the present case, the Court found that the sexual abuse of the victim girl by the accused was duly established by the prosecution through medical evidence and thus, there was proper corroboration of the evidence with the medical documents. Apart from the holding that the prosecution had established the accused guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the Court reiterated the observations made by the Supreme Court in State of Punjab v. Gurmit Singh (1996) 2 SCC 384 that physical sexual assault not only leaves the worst memories but also ruins the entire life of the victim and while the murder shatters the body of a person, the rape is destructive of the personal liberty of a helpless/ noble creature. (Shri Treda Sungoh v. State of Meghalaya – Crl. A. No. 40 of 2023) 

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