Kolkata: Placing confidence in the consistent statements of a hearing-and-speech-impaired rape survivor, Calcutta High Court refused to free the convict even though the witnesses turned hostile during examination. Instead, the court acknowledged the need to consider the long span of time after which the witnesses were called for examination."Since the statements of the victim are consistent and inspire confidence, it does not necessitate any corroboration, and minor contradictions should not be the ground for throwing out the evidence of the prosecutrix… In the present context, the evidence of the survivor fully corroborates with regard to the core of the allegation that she was dragged and pulled by the appellant who assaulted and undressed her and also committed rape upon her," Justice Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee stated on May 13.The incident took place on Sept 25, 2021, when the survivor went to a field, around a kilometre from her house, to work. According to the FIR, the convict first asked her to marry him. When she refused, he kicked and dragged her, and raped her. On returning home, the survivor gestured the incident to her brother, who filed the police complaint in Malda the same day. The man was convicted by the trial court in 2022 for rape and voluntarily causing hurt.He spent four years imprisoned and continues to plead not guilty. His lawyer highlighted that the witnesses turned hostile during examination."Though the counsel for the defence argued much that except for the victim, all other material witnesses turned hostile during examination, the evidence recorded by the trial court discloses that all the witnesses were called for examination after a long span of time, which is also required to be considered in the context of a fair trial, and there is no scope to deal with the matter in a mechanical way which can only result in miscarriage of justice," the judge held.The judge also said the survivor's statement matched the medical officer's report, which opined, "there are signs of use of force, however, vaginal penetration cannot be ruled out. Sexual violence cannot be ruled out."