The mother’s “character” on trial in child sexual abuse cases

ABSTRACT In response to the use of sexual history in rape trials to characterize the victim as untrustworthy, “rape shield” laws, limiting the use of evidence of the victim’s sexual history, have been introduced in India. Through a series of trial court decisions, this paper shows that in child sexual abuse cases, the victim’s mother’s “character” is scrutinized in a manner similar to the victim’s character in (adult) rape trials to argue that the accused has been falsely implicated. This issue has received limited attention in academic literature and has gone unnoticed by appellate courts. An analysis of the reasoning in these trial court judgements shows that the rules of evidence not only sanction this line of defence, but also that traditions of rape trials encourage its use. There is thus a need for a re-look at the existing rape shield provisions and the mindset of the Indian legal community.