Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, Section 3, 4, 5(m), 29, Indian Penal Code, 1860, Section 376(1) -- Penetrative sexual assault/rape - Proof - Medical evidence disclosed no external or genital injury, no vaginal laceration or perineal tear, and no spermatozoa on swab, secondary sexual characters not developed - Presence of semen on pant alone does not..........
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, Section 7, 8 -- Sexual assault - Ingredients and proof - Victim's testimony that appellant pulled down her pant and touched/stroked her private part, together with recovery of her pant containing semen, establishes "touching with sexual intent" constituting sexual assault - Conviction u/s 8 of the Act affirmed...........
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, Section 11, 12 -- Sexual harassment - Distinct from sexual assault - On facts, conduct amounts to sexual assault and not sexual harassment - Conviction u/s 12 of the Act set aside...........
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, Section 7 -- Interpretation - "Physical contact" is not confined to "skin-to-skin", the controlling element is "sexual intent" - Applied to uphold conviction for sexual assault...........
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, Section 5(m) -- Aggravated penetrative sexual assault - Age below 12 proved and undisputed, however, in absence of proved penetration, aggravated penetrative sexual assault not attracted...........
Words and Phrases -- "Bad work" - Expression used by a child victim is a genus and by itself does not import "penetrative sexual assault" within S.3 of POCSO Act - Such inference requires ocular or medical corroboration...........
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, Section 8 -- Sexual assault - Delay in lodging FIR - Father of victim child is himself a member of police force - That being so, delay in lodging of FIR assumes greater importance - There is no explanation as to why police complaint was not lodged for nearly a day after alleged incident cannot be ignored - Delay, fatal..........
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, Section 8 -- Sexual assault - Discrepancies in statements of crucial witnesses PW1 and PW2 - Refusal of medical examination of victim child also gains significance - Victim specifically stated that appellant had brushed his leg against hers but during her deposition before trial Court, 8 months later she failed to..........
Indian Penal Code, 1860, Section 302, 34 -- Murder - Appreciation of evidence - Recovery of weapons of assault is not sine qua non for convicting an accused as entire evidence on record is required to be taken into consideration...........
Indian Penal Code, 1860, Section 302, 34 -- Murder - Appreciation of evidence - Absence of recovery of weapons of assault would not weaken the case of prosecution in the presence of other evidence on record that is found reliable...........
