A local court in Tamil Nadu allowed a defendant to roam almost free in a child sexual assault case based on a typo in an FIR in which the word “semen” was misspelled as “semmen” (red sand on Tamil). The Madras High Court later intervened and overturned the lower court ruling.
The Supreme Court of Justice P. Velmurgan overturned the lower court ruling when a woman appealed the acquittal of a man accused of sexually abusing her two-year-old daughter.
The order stated that during the trial, when the woman’s testimony was recorded, the indictment incorrectly stated that the victim’s genitals had traces of “semman” in Tamil rather than “semen” in English.
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The Tiruvarur District Mahila Court released Defendant S Prakash from the case, citing that “filth” may have got stuck in the private part while the child was playing around.
The judgment of the Higher Regional Court shows that the defense attorney took advantage of the typing error made in the process.
However, judge Velmurugan Prakash from Tiruvarur District sentenced him to five years in prison and ordered the Tamil Nadu government to pay the girl 1 lakh in compensation.
The incident happened in 2017 when the woman got out to buy food and when Prakash saw the two-year-old toddler alone, she raped him.
On her return, the mother found the child crying and noticed a white liquid in her private parts. The mother took the child to hospital and filed a complaint.
Judge Velmurugan commented heavily on the investigating officer: “The perpetrators are fleeing for technical reasons, and unfortunately the investigation wing does not meet the standard of their discretion to either initiate a new investigation or unequivocally look for evidence in order to help the accused in case of doubt. But in cases like this, we cannot attach great importance to the technical evidence base. “
Since the mother mentioned a white liquid, the court also said the defense made a “thin defense” by bringing in semen and semen color.
Regarding the issue of the delay in filing the FIR, the court stated: “No mother of a victim, particularly an illiterate woman in rural areas, would go to the police immediately in such cases and the prosecution and court have failed to fulfill their duties if they do Stressed formalities such as delaying the complaint. “
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