How to appreciate evidence in cases where witnesses are neither wholly reliable nor wholly unreliable?

 What flows from the aforesaid decisions is that in cases where witnesses are neither wholly reliable nor wholly unreliable, the Court should strive to find out the true genesis of the incident. The Court can rely on the victim as a "sterling witness" without further corroboration, but the quality and credibility must be exceptionally high. The statement of the prosecutrix ought to be consistent from the beginning to the end (minor inconsistencies excepted), from the initial statement to the oral testimony, without creating any doubt qua the prosecution's case. While a victim's testimony is usually enough for sexual offence cases, an unreliable or insufficient account from the prosecutrix, marked by identified flaws and gaps, could make it difficult for a conviction to be recorded. {Para 15}

 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

Criminal Appeal No. 1098 of 2024

Decided On: 11.03.2024

Nirmal Premkumar and Ors. Vs. State Rep. by Inspector of Police

Hon'ble Judges/Coram:

Dipankar Datta, K.V. Viswanathan and Sandeep Mehta, JJ.

Author: Dipankar Datta, J.

Citation:  MANU/SC/0188/2024.

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