ZAINUL ABEDIN & OTHERS V. THE STATE — 3 BLD 108

Fact: On 25th of Magh 1383 B.S. at about 9 P.M. Manzila Khatun went out of the hut for making water by the said of the well and she was suddenly caught hold of by the 4 accused persons namely Zainul, Taslim, Sattar and Raisuddin forcefully lifted and carried her away to the bak of korotoya river where three of them reaped her one by one and she became unconscious, thereafter when her consciousness came back she found herself inside the hut of accused Zainu Abedin when the later’s wife was present there.  On following day all the 4 accused carried her to the broken outer hut of accuse Raisuddin and kept her hidden under a hay stack. In the same afternoon her father and uncle rescued her to their house.

On 27th of Mah, after dusk she went out to answer the call of nature when the accuse Zainul, Taslim and Raisuddin again abducted her and carried her away to a nearby sugarcane field. On her alarm

Issue: Whether uncorroborated testimony is sufficient for conviction or not?

Arguments: The appellants argued that, the trail judge failed to notice that the prosecution case on its face was fake improbable and was not proved at all. The conviction was only base on the sole evidence of the informant and the hearsay evidence of her relatives although there are several contradiction within them.

Not a single witness corroborated of supported the prosecution. None of her neighbor seen her abduction or heard about her abduction in the first place. Nether referred doctor who is said to have medically examined Manzila Katun nor the I.O. was examined. Vital contradiction on the material points was found form her own evidence given in magistrate court, session court and in F.I.R. about by whom and how she is raped. Related specific information and evidence were missing too such as the exact place where the occurrence’s had taken place was not spotted. Her dresses were not examined or produced to support her rape.

There is no scope to believe the uncorroborated statement of prosecutrix about her being abduct and reaped.

Judgment: The appeal is allowed. The order of conviction and sentence passed by the Assistant session judge is set aside. All the 3 appellants as well as accuse Rnisuddin are found not guilty and are acquitted of the charges. All of them including Raisuddin shall be set at liberty at once if not wanted in connection with any other case.

Opinion: Uncorroborated statement of prosecutrix could be used if she could show some independent circumstantial evidence on the other hand all the evidence she produced were rooted to her evidence that fail the credibility of the evidence to convict a person. Most important point is she herself was sometimes contradicting with her previous statements and reports which could had been use to corroborate her testimony u/s 157 of evidence act.

(Discussed based on Evidence Act only)

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Rayhanul Islam

Advocate Rayhanul Islam is the founder and Editor in Chief of Law Help BD. He is also a researcher. Critical thinking is his main focus. He is on a quest to bring positive change to the legal sector of Bangladesh. He promotes legal knowledge and human rights concept to the root level. e-mail: rayhan@lawhelpbd.com

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