Hostile victim does not mean accused can go scot-free: SC

New Delhi [India], Oct 2 (ANI): Acquitting rape accused individuals merely because the victim turned hostile and failed to identify him in the dock, would indeed be a "travesty of justice", the Supreme Court said while affirming the conviction of a rape accused.A bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Navin Sinha and Justice KM Joseph opined that neither the accused nor the victim can be permitted to subvert a criminal trial by stating falsehood and resort to contrivances, so as to make it the "theatre of the absurd".Dispensation of justice in a criminal trial is a "serious matter" and "cannot be allowed to become a mockery" by simply allowing prime witnesses to turn hostile as a ground for acquittal, the top court said.The apex court while upholding the Gujarat High Court judgement sentencing one Hemudan Nanbha Gadhvi to 10 years in jail for raping a nine-year-old girl in 2004 relied on the medical report of the victim which confirmed the sexual assault.The victim's mother had lodged