BIKONIA SUTNGA Vs. WOODLAND KHONGTHIEM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The application is for leave to prefer an appeal against a judgment and order of October 31, 2019 by which the accused has been acquitted of charges, inter alia, under Ss. 5 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

(2.) The applicant seeking leave to appeal claims to be an aunt of the alleged survivor. She is the sister of the mother of the alleged survivor. It is evident from the impugned judgment that the acquittal is based on the evidence of the alleged survivor. The alleged survivor clearly and categorically testified at the trial that the accused had not committed rape on her.

(3.) There are serious anomalies in the matter, not the least of them being that the alleged survivor, then admittedly a minor, was impregnated and she could not indicate who was the father of the child. No attempt appears to have been made to conduct a DNA test to ascertain who may have been the father.