R.K. DASH, J.

(1.) A man starts to seek his origin when he cannot control his carnal desire and when he cannot control his such desire, he becomes a menace to the society. The present case illustrates a sordid tale of extreme brutality and raw unleashed sexuality where the appellant (hereinafter referred to as the accused) to satisfy his lust ravished the victim girl (name withheld) who at the relevant time was his student. On prosecution being launched, the accused faced trial under Section 376, IPC in the court of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Cuttack, in S.T. Case No. 15 of 1992 and on conclusion thereof he was found guilty and consequently convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of three months.

(2.) The prosecution case culled out during trial may succinctly be stated as follows :The accused was a teacher at Dhanser Upgraded M. E. School where the victim girl aged 13 was prosecuting her studies in class VI. On the fateful day, that is, 6-12-1990 at about 7 p.m. the victim girl was returning home after attending call of nature. The accused who was then standing in his Bari asked her to come inside by uttering her name. No sooner she went inside, the accused removed her saree, made her lie on the ground and committed sexual intercourse with her. Due to such dastardly act she cried aloud, hearing which Kailash Chandra Sahu (P.W. 2), Haidhar Sahu (P.W. 5), Chaturbhuja alias Chhunchi Sahani (P.W. 10), Santhosh Kumar Samantrey (not examined) and Lochan Sahu (not examined) came on the spot and saw the accused lying naked upon the victim. They rescued the victim and brought her home where she narrated the episode to her mother, Kuntala Sahu (P. W. 6) and father, Gadadhar Sahu (P.W. 7). Some villagers coming to know of the unfortunate incident gathered at the house of P.W. 7 and in order to avoid publicity suggested him for a settlement in the village level. Accordingly meeting was convened twice and the accused was called to the said meeting but he avoided. Whereupon P.W. 7 went to the police station and lodged report which having been treated as F.I.R. Ext. 7, a case under Section 376, I.P.C. was registered and investigation was taken up. In course of investigation, the victim girl and the accused were sent for medical examination and on close of investigation, charge sheet was placed against the accused to face trial for the said offence.

(3.) The accused denied the indictment and pleaded that Haidhar Sahu, P.W. 3 with whom he had certain disputes set up the victims father Gadadhar Sahu, P.W. 7 and foisted this false case.

(4.) The prosecution in support of its case, examined 17 witnesses including the victim girl and the doctor and the learned trial Judge on evaluation of the evidence held the accused guilty of the offence of rape and consequently convicted and sentenced him as hereinbefore stated.

(5.) Learned counsel appearing for the accused challenged the legality and correctness of the judgment and order of conviction contending, inter alia, that since there was no visible injury on the private part of the victim, the learned trial Judge should not have put implicit reliance on her version and recorded the verdict against the accused. He further contended that there was long delay in lodging the report to the police and the same having not been properly explained away, the prosecution case should have been viewed with suspicion.

(6.) Learned Additional Government Advocate, while supporting the impugned judgment submitted that the learned Additional Sessions Judge having scrutinised the evidence of the witnesses with touchstone of credibility, accepted the prosecution case as true and consequently held the accused guilty of the charge and there being no infirmity in the ultimate conclusion the impugned judgment does not call for any interference.

(7.) The victim girl, P.W. 3 who was sexually molested by the accused was minor aged 13 years and at the relevant time was reading in class VI. The fact that she was minor has been deposed to by her mother, P.W.6 and father, P.W. 7. This has been supported by documentary evidence, such as transfer certificate, Ext. 17 and the relevant entry in the School Admission Register, Ext. 16. According to the certificate the date of birth of the victim girl is 25-3-1977. Besides that, Dr. Binodini Padhy, P.W. 16 who examined the victim on police requisition, opined that she was above 14 years and below 16 years of age. In view of such clinching evidence, the learned counsel for the accused did not challenge, and in my opinion rightly so, that the victim was minor at the time the alleged rape was committed on her.

(8.) Now the next question arises, whether the accused violated the body of the victim or it is a cooked up story engineered by the victims father to wreck vengeance. In order to appreciate the prosecution case, it is necessary at the first blush to have a glimpse on the medical evidence to find whethervictim girl had any visible injury to suggest that she was sexually molested. According to the doctor, P.W. 16 she examined her on 15-12-1990 and found that her hymen had tears at 5 Oclock and 7 Oclock position and hymenal margin appeared red and inflamed. She, therefore, opened that possibility cannot be ruled out that the victim had recent sexual intercourse. It was, however, suggested by the defence which she denied that if some hard substance or fingers are inserted into vagina, hymen will be torn. She asserted that presence of tears in the victims hymen and their position suggested that the same appeared on account of sexual act.

(9.) Now I shall turn to the evidence of the victim girl, P.W. 3. As deposed to by her on the date of incident at about evening hours when she was returning home after attending call of nature, the accused who was present in his Bari called her uttering her name. Because he was her teacher, she faithfully obeyed him and went inside the Bari. No sooner she reached there, the accused in order to satisfy his lust caught hold of her, put off her saree, made her lie on the ground and he himself became naked and ravished her. Unable to bear the pain of sexual assault, she cried aloud for help, hearing which Kailash Sahu (P.W. 2), Haidhar Sahu (P.W. 5), Chaturbhuja Sahani (P.W. 10) and others rushed to the spot and separated the accused. She was subjected to a lengthy cross-examination, but nothing tangible could. be brought out to discredit her testimony. Why should she speak lie against the accused, her teacher and falsely involve him in sexual molestation Of course, the accused in his statement recorded under Section 313, Cr. P.C. has taken the plea that this case is the outcome of dispute with Haidhar Sahu, P.W. 5 who set up the victims father to foist this case, but such a plea is took fragile to believe. In a society like ours it is quite inconceivable that the parents would invent such story in order to wreck vengeance on someone. They would hesitate to do so for the simple reason that it would bring down their own social status, apart from ruening the future prospect of their daughter. Besides that, no girl, whether minor of major, would fabricate a false story of sexual molestation. She very well knows that in our society her future chance of getting married in a respectable family would be bleak if her chastity is questioned. In the present case, the victim girl who has hardly known the wordly affairs could not be believed to have concoted a story of sexual assault against the accused, a teacher whom she respects as her father. From the standpoint of probabilities it is not possible to countenance the defence plea that a story of sexual assault has been concocted in order to falsely implicate the accused. To me, therefore, she appears to be a witness of truth and so, I have no hesitation to act upon her testimony alone without seeking any corroboration. However, there is ample evidence available on record including that of the doctor, discussion of which had been made in preceding paragraph, which lends credence to her unimpeachable evidence.

(10.) There is no tenebrosity in the position of law that where the testimony of a victim of sexual assault inspires confidence and is found to be reliable, in absence of any corroboration, court would be justified to accept and act upon her testimony for recording a finding of guilt against the accused. Corroboration as a condition for judicial reliance on the testimony of the victim is not a requirement of law but a guidance of prudence, under given circumstances. It must not be overlooked that a woman or girl subjected to sexual assault is not an accomplice to the crime but is a victim of another persons lust and it is improper and undesirable to test her evidence with certain amount of suspicion. Ours is a tradition bound unpermissible society. No self-respecting woman or girl would come forward to make a humiliating statement against her and involve a person falsely in such an offence. Courts, therefore, while judging her evidence should make a realistic approach without insisting upon corroboration, else justice will be a causality. In this context it is worthwhile to refer to the observations of the apex court in the land mark judgment in the case of Bharwada Bhagelahai Hirjibhai v. State of Gujarat, AIR 1983 SC 753 [LQ/SC/1983/159] : (1983 Cri LJ 1096), as under at page 1099; of Cri LJ :"In the Indian setting, refusal to act on the testimony of a victim of sexual assault in the absence of corroboration as a rule is adding insult to injury. Why should the evidence of the girl or the woman who complains of rape or sexual molestation be viewed with the aid of spectacles fitted with lenses tinged with doubt, disbelief or suspicion To do so is to justify the charge of male chauvinism in a male dominated society. We must analyse the argument in support of the need for corroboration and subject it do relentless and remorseless cross-examination. And we must do so with logical, and not an opinionated, eye in the light of probabilities with our feet firmly planted on the soil of India and with our eyes focussed on the Indian harizon. We must not be swept off the feet by the approach made in the Western world which has its own social milieu, its own social morass, its own permissive values, and its own code of life. Corroboration may be considered essential to establish a sexual offence in the backdrop of the social ecology of the Western world. It is wholly unnecessary to import the said concept on a trun-key basis and to aranaplant it on the Indian soil regardless of the altogether different atmosphere, attitudes, mores, responses of the Indian society, and its profile. The identities of the two worlds are different. The solution of problems cannot therefore be identical."

(11.) Let me now consider what P.Ws. 2, 5 and 10 have said about the incident and whether their evidence has lent support to the victims version. As deposed to by them, in the evening hours of the date of incident while they were returning home on the village path after attending call of nature they heard cries of a girl emanating from the Bari of the accused which adjoins the said path. So they rushed inside that Bari and to their utter dismay found the accused lying asked upon the victim who was also naked. They separated the accused and brought the victim to her house. These three witnesses are the co-villagers of the accused. It does not appear from their evidence that they had any are to grind against him. On a thorough scrutiny of their evidence, I find that they were the natural witnesses and their presence at the scene of occurrence at such hours is quite probable and believable. Besides these witnesses, the evidence of Kuntala Sahu, P.W. 6 and Gadadhar Sahu, P.W. 7, both parents of the victim, cannot be last sight of. As would appear from their statements, their daughter on reaching home disclosed to have been forcibly ravished by the accused. This statement having been made immediately after the commission of the offence, formed part of the same transaction and therefore, is admissible in evidence to lend assurance to the victims version.

(12.) It is the usual argument advanced by the defence in almost all criminal cases, as in the present case, that there was delay in lodging of report to the police and the same having not been properly explained, prosecution case should be viewed with suspicion. Factually this submission merits no consideration since the delay has been properly explained away by the victims father Gadadhar Sahu, P.W. 7. It appears from his evidence that in order to avoid publicity of the incident he agreed to the proposal of the villagers to settle up the matter in the village. But when the gentries failed to provide him any relief, because the accused did not attend the meeting, he approached the police and lodged the report. This explanation of his does not appear to be false and fabricated. In the circumstance, therefore, delay in lodging the report was natural. That apart, in sexual offences delay cannot be a ground to view the prosecutrixs version with suspicion. In this context I may refer to a decision of the apex Court in the case of State of Punjab v. Gujarait Singh, 1996 (1) Crimes 37 (SC) : 1996 (1) JT SC 298 : (1996 Cri LJ 1728) SC 298 : 1996 (2) SCC 384 [LQ/SC/1996/111] , where the Court observed at page 1734; of Cri LJ :

"x x x x x The courts cannot overlook, the fact that in sexual offences delay in the lodging of the FIR can be due to variety of reasons particularly the reluctance of the prosecutrix or her family members to go to the police and complain about the incident which concerns the reputation of the prosecutrix and the honour of her family. It is only after giving it a cool thought that a complaint of sexual offence is generally lodged. x x x x"

Keeping in view the aforesaid dictum and on consideration of the evidence of Gadadhar Sahu, P.W. 7,I would hold that the argument advanced on behalf of the accused regarding delay in lodging of the F.I.R. does not hold water.

(13.) On a conspectus of the facts and circumstances of the case and the evidence as discussed above, I am in complete agreement with the finding of the learned trial court that on the evening of the date of incident the accused to satisfy his lust committed sexual intercourse with the victim girl and, therefore, the order of conviction and sentence does not call for any interference.

(14.) The appeal is accordingly dismissed. Appeal dismissed.