Lack Of Injuries #
Another long-standing and exhausting trope often witnessed in prosecutions of rape, is the dismissal of a rape victim’s testimony on the basis that her body may not show severe injuries. This smacks of a rudimentary and illogical understanding of rape, when it is a crime where women are often terrified into submission and are unable to respond as a dispassionate bystander expects them to. Moreover, decades of research and observation has proven that when faced with an attack of rape, victims experience the psychological impulse to freeze (to save oneself from death) and disassociation in order to survive the horrendous violation of their bodily integrity.
Sadly, most courts, investigating officers and judges seem oblivious to this common sense, and by now, widely publicized understanding. However, a few judgments have recognized that the lack of injuries cannot, in and of itself, be considered as fatal to a complaint of rape. Rather, even if there are no obvious injuries (especially considering the time lag that is experienced between a rape and a subsequent medical examination, if at all), as long as the testimony of a victim / prosecutrix is otherwise reliable and consistent, they should be treated as credible. They are listed in this section.
