Child’s testimony alone can secure conviction if reliable: HC

The Delhi High Court has upheld a man’s 12-year jail term for raping a 10-year old girl in 2017, saying the child’s testimony inspired confidence and was reliable, and the conviction could rest upon it alone.

Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri passed the order on September 3, while dismissing an appeal filed by the convict Tonny.

“The settled position of law is that even if the victim is the sole witness to the incident, a conviction can be sustained if her testimony is found to be credible and reliable. If the testimony of the child victim inspires confidence and is reliable, the conviction can rest upon it,” the judge said.

According to the FIR, the convict worked at a wood workshop near the child’s school and lured her with food items such as chowmein and ‘kachori’, before repeatedly raping her inside his shop.

He further threatened to “drown her in a drain or cut her like a piece of wood” if she disclosed the abuse.

The judge noted that child’s stand remained consistent and credible, and the accused was not able to demolish her testimony in cross-examination.

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Healing beyond borders: AIIMS doctors’ odyssey to restore sight

It was sometime in 2009. Despite his demanding schedule in the OPD and operation theatre at the Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences (RP Centre) at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, eminent retinal surgeon Dr Rajvardhan Azad travelled to Lahore to present a paper at the Asia Pacific Academy.

There, he met several eye specialists from Pakistan and other countries. After a couple of days, he returned to Delhi and resumed his work at the RP Centre. While checking his email, he found a message from an eye surgeon friend in Karachi, whom he had recently met in Lahore. The Pakistani surgeon requested him to treat two children, aged four and two, as “their vision is getting from bad to worse.”