Indian Journal of Law and Justice, Vol. 10, No. 02

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/3611

EDITORIAL

Law has been a dynamic concept all the time. It has various dimensions depending upon the period of time as well as its applicability to the nature of society in which it is to operate. The basic concepts of law remain changing with the changing situation of the social norms, the political strategy and the needs of the common man. The rule of law is the slogan of the day may it be on one side or the other. The act which is legal today may be an offence tomorrow and the vice-versa. At the same time an act which is legal in one part of the world may be a crime in other part of the world. Even in a country a “Law” may be valid in a part of its territory may be illegal and punishable in the other part. The law cannot be studied in isolation. In such a decimal context a common man wonders about to learn what is the true law? The answer of the question cannot be given on looking at the statutory law alone. One has to draw the conspectus of the legislative enactment, judicial interpretation and the opinion of the jurists. It is a sheer paradox that everyone is supposed to know the law of the land while the fact remains that now a days nobody knows the whole law of the land. The Legislators, in general, make law, the judges interpret it and the academics teach it in addition to study analysis and research. Even then the ambiguity remains unclear after repeated amendments. This problem poses a complex issue before a modern man how to know the “law in force”. The only solution may be found in deep analysis and research on various aspects of the law. A humble attempt has been made by bringing out the present publication.

The Department of Law, University of North Bengal, although a recent centre of legal education in comparison to others in North India, has played a significant role. The academic excellence of any institution may be judged by the achievements of its students and performance of its teachers in addition to the given infrastructure and the facilities available for such goals. Present shape of the journal has been the product of a long process and initiatives undertaken by our faculty members. The present publication is the testimony to the fact which will go a long way in spreading the inference of multi-faceted research in various fields of law. That may be the source of knowledge on some of the areas of legal discussion.

For a long time we are thinking about to publish a law journal from our department. The ideas were on our mind for a couple of years, to give it a present form that have been possible today. In this academic venture the moral support given by our former Vice-Chancellor Professor Arunabha Basumajumdar is commendable at the same time the journal could see the light of the day by the support of my esteemed colleagues, in particular, and the whole academic world in general. Over and above to maintain the above spirit, it is not enough, the continual research and publication is necessary. I have firm belief that I would be able to fulfil the need of the hour by your constant support. Such kind of level of confidence in our mind became possible mainly because of successfully completion of number of national and international seminars and conferences by our Department with overwhelming participation and support from every part of our country and also from different countries including SAARC countries.

We firmly believe on one principle that our journal should ideally be a platform for exchange of ideas and dissemination of information not only from established legal luminaries but also for the young faculties and researchers in the field of law and allied subjects who will be the future leaders in the field of legal education in our country.

The present issue of the journal may have some errors and I academically take responsibility for the same in the given circumstances. I would welcome any suggestion and opinion for improvement for the next issue of the journal.

Prof. (Dr.) Rathin Bandyopadhyay
Chief Editor

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Amendment in Rape Law

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    Relevance of Medical Finding in Rape Cases Post 2013 Amendment of the Indian Penal Code
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-09) Fasih, Faisal
    Although corroborative in nature, medical evidence plays a very crucial role in rape cases. The glaring inconsistency between direct evidence and medical evidence is considered as defect in the prosecution case. The paper studied the implications of medical findings in two phases – Prior to 2013 amendment and Post-Amendment. Prior to the amendment, rape was defined as an act of sexual intercourse between man and woman without the consent of latter. The law has been amended to include penetrative as well as non-penetrative rape, consisting of sixteen different types of acts. Therefore, the focus of medical examination was to determine penetration by mainly assessing the private organ of victim, tracking seminal fluid and injuries. However, with the broadening of the definition of rape, it is important to make necessary changes for tracing medico-legal aspects of certain findings. Certain medical factors which were important no longer carry the same weightage such as capacity of the accused to cohabit as penetration is not required for the commission of an offence. On the other hand, certain factors which were not very important may play decisive today such as saliva of the accused or traces of object found in the private part of victim. The paper highlights various medical findings relating to physical aspect of rape and its legal implications. It is divided into three sections. The first section analyses the medico-legal aspects of three important findings namely; condition of private part of victim, presence of certain fluid, and recording of injury mark. The second section discusses the impact of amendment on the evidentiary value of certain medical findings such as presence of seminal discharge, saliva, traces of object and evidence suggesting manipulation of body. Finally, the paper makes certain recommendations for better application of medical evidence.