Case Title: X v. Amit Kumar Tiwari
The Supreme Court in setting aside a judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court which discharged a rape accused on the ground of delay in the registration of the First Information Report observed that "...The impugned order of the High Court is utterly incomprehensible. We have yet to come across a case where the High Court has thought fit to discharge an accused charged with the offence of rape on the ground of delay in the registration of the FIR."
The brief facts of the case - the victim committed suicide out of shame as she had delivered an illegitimate child conceived through forcible sexual intercourse (rape) by the accused. An FIR was registered under Sections 376 and 306 of the IPC and Sections 5 and 6 of the POCSO Act, chargesheet was filed and charges were also framed against the accused by The Special Court.
Allowing the revision petition, the High Court noted that the deceased at the time of death was eight months pregnant but FIR and complaint to the police were not made in time. "Even in the lifetime of the deceased she did not approach the police. The story as narrated by the mother of the deceased seems to be doubtful on the ground of delay," it was observed in the order discharging the accused. This order was challenged before the Apex Court by the father of the victim girl.
Setting aside the impugned order, the Bench observed that, “at the stage of framing of a charge, the court is concerned not with the proof of the allegation rather it has to focus on the material and form an opinion whether there is strong suspicion that the accused has committed an offence, which if put to trial, could prove his guilt. The framing of charge is not a stage, at which stage the final test of guilt is to be applied. Thus, to hold that at the stage of framing the charge, the court should form an opinion that the accused is certainly guilty of committing an offence, is to hold something which is neither permissible nor is in consonance with the scheme of Code of Criminal Procedure.”