In Brief
Santosh Prasad was convicted of rape and criminal intimidation based solely on the prosecutrix's testimony. The Supreme Court found material contradictions in her account, unexplained delays in filing the FIR, and lack of corroboration from medical and forensic evidence. The Court noted prior land dispute enmity between the parties. Finding the prosecutrix's solitary version insufficiently reliable, the Court held that conviction cannot rest on uncorroborated testimony in sexual assault cases. The appeal was allowed, the conviction quashed, and the appellant acquitted with the benefit of doubt.
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