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5. Shri Anip Sachthey, learned counsel appearing for the appellant has submitted that the prosecutrix was a major and it was a case of consent. He has further submitted that conviction cannot be based on the sole deposition of the prosecutrix. There is no other evidence to corroborate her version. The prosecutrix's statement suffers from material discrepancies. On the date of examination of the prosecutrix no physical injury was found on her person or on her private parts. The prosecutrix had given a most improbable and unacceptable version of events that the appellant continued to rape her for about two hours. Then one another accused raped her for about an hour. Also, in spite of the fact that the appellant and others had been arrested on the next date of the incident, the Investigating Officer did not conduct the Test Identification Parade. The prosecutrix was examined on the next day i.e. on 7.12.1988 by Dr. Rupa Lalwani, Medical Officer (PW-3), and the said Medical Officer referred her for a Radiological Test to determine her age, but the report of the said test has never been brought on record. Thus, an adverse inference is to be drawn against the prosecution. The appeal deserves to be allowed. The appellant had falsely been enroped in the crime.

6. On the other hand, Shri Siddhartha Dave along with Ms. Vibha Datta Makhija, learned counsel appearing for the State of M.P., vehemently opposed the appeal contending that the prosecutrix was a minor on the date of the incident. The non-production of the report of the Radiological test and not holding the Test Identification Parade would not discredit the investigation or the prosecution case. The non-existence of any injury on the person of the prosecutrix cannot be a ground to dis-believe her version. The prosecutrix had such a social background that she did not have any sense of time, duration etc. and, thus, she was not able to give a precise account of each activity of the incident. She had lost her father; and was an uneducated, rustic villager, who came from a very poor family. The discrepancies in the statement of the witnesses or the prosecutrix are such that the same are not sufficient to demolish the prosecution's case. In a rape case, an accused can be convicted on the sole testimony of the prosecutrix. The appeal lacks merit and is liable to dismissed.

A similar view has been re-iterated by this Court in Virendra @ Buddhu & Anr. Vs. State of U.P. (2008) 16 SCC 582.

32. The case requires to be considered in the light of the aforesaid settled legal propositions.

Shri Anip Sachthey, learned counsel for the appellant, submitted that the prosecutrix was a major on the date of incident and that it was a clear case of consent. The Trial Court as well as the High Court examined the issue involved herein very minutely. Dr. Rupa Lalwani (PW-3), who had examined the prosecutrix on 7.12.1988, has stated that in the examination she found that there were in all 28 teeth in both the jaws; her breast had developed a little; the armpit hairs were in its initial stage; but there were pubic hair present around her vagina. On the basis of this, she opined that at relevant time, prosecutrix was aged between 12 and 14 years. As the statement of Dr. Rupa Lalwani (PW-3) makes it clear that the prosecutrix Asha @ Gopi had very little developed breast and the growth of her armpit hair was at its initial/first stage, the Court believed that she was below 16 years of age. Undoubtedly, Asha @ Gopi, the prosecutrix had stated in her deposition that she was sent for a Radiological Test to Jabalpur and she could not explain as to why the report of the Radiological Test could not be produced before the Trial Court. In fact, the circumstances under which the report of the Radiological Test could not be produced before the Trial Court, would have been explained only by the Investigating Officer. Unfortunately, there is nothing on record to show that the defence had put any such question to the I.O. during his examination before the Trial Court. In our opinion, the I.O. was the only competent person to throw light on the issue of the non-production of the report of the Radiological Test and in the facts and circumstances of this case, no adverse inference can be drawn against the prosecution in this issue. More so, the prosecution had no control over prosecuting agency. Same remains the position for not holding the Test Identification Parade in this case.

41. We do not find any force in the submissions made by Shri Anip Sachthey, learned counsel appearing for the appellant, that the instant case was squarely covered by the judgment of this Court in Sunil Vs. State of Haryana (2010) 1 SCC 742, wherein in a similar case, for non-production of the report of Radiological Test, an adverse inference was drawn against the prosecution and the appellant therein had been acquitted. In the said case, this Court had relied upon the judgment in Sukhwant Singh Vs. State of Punjab (1995) 3 SCC 367, wherein it has been held as under: