In Brief
A nine-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in 2004. Medical examination confirmed the assault. When the child witness turned hostile at trial six months later and refused to identify the accused, the trial court acquitted him. The High Court reversed this acquittal. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction, holding that the failure of the victim to identify the accused in court was not fatal where strong corroborative evidence existed: medical findings of sexual assault, serological evidence linking the accused's blood group to semen on the victim's clothes, and a test identification parade conducted without delay. The court rejected the contention that identification in a parade alone cannot support conviction, noting that cumulative consideration of multiple pieces of evidence established guilt.
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