New Delhi: The Supreme Court had held that
in rape cases even slightest penetration without rupturing the
hymen or other private parts of the victim amounts to rape.
A bench of Justices J M Panchal and Deepak Verma also
said that normally if there is sufficient evidence the
testimony by the victim should relied upon by courts as no
Indian woman or girl victim would unnecessarily cause a slur
on her own chastity by claiming to have been raped.
"Sexual intercourse.- In law, is held to
mean the slightest degree of penetration of the vulva by the
penis with or without emission of semen. It is therefore quite
possible to commit legally the offence of rape without
producing any injury to the genitals or leaving any seminal
stains," the bench said in a judgement quoting medical
jurisprudence.
The apex court passed the ruling while upholding the
conviction of an autodriver Wahid who raped a minor but
claimed he cannot be convicted as the victim's hymen was not
ruptured.
-PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 01, 2009, 23:09