Medical Evidence Of Hymen Being Intact By Itself Not Sufficient To Hold That There Was No Penetrative Sexual Assault Or Coitus: Kerala HC

The Kerala High Court has said that medical evidence showing that hymen is intact by itself would not prove that there was no penetrative sexual assault or coitus.Justice A. Badharudeen thus dismissed a criminal revision petition of the petitioner on finding that the prosecution has made out a prima facie case that he kidnapped the minor child with intent to sexually assault her. Court held, “The contention raised by the petitioner that the medical evidence would show that the hymen is intact, also would not by itself sufficient to hold that there was no penetrative sexual intercourse since it is the settled law that rupture of hymen is not a mandate to find penetrative sexual assault or coitus.”The petitioner is the sole accused who is accused of kidnapping a child, his close relative, from the lawful custody of her parents and committing penetrative sexual assault upon her in a country boat. It is also alleged that the accused restrained the victim who tried to escape and threatened and intimidated of killing her. Crime was registered for committing offences punishable under Sections 363(kidnapping), 354A(1)(ii), 341(wrongful restrain), 376(1)(3)(rape), 506(i) (criminal intimidation)of the IPC and Sections 4(1) read with 3(a), 6 read with 5(o), 10 read with 9(p), 8 read with 7 of the POCSO Act. The petitioner approached the Special Court seeking discharge in the case. The Special Court held that prima facie case is made out by the prosecution and discharge was denied. The petitioner thereafter approached the High Court, contending that the accusation against him was unfounded and that he was falsely implicated to seek vengeance due to family disputes. It was also argued that there was no penetrative sexual assault since medical evidence suggest that the hymen was intact.The Court found that the petitioner has not proved that the prosecution has given a false case out of animosity. The Court further observed that prosecution materials prove that the child was kidnapped from the lawful custody of parents with an intention of sexually assaulting her. “…it has to be held that the trial court disallowed the petition for discharge in a case where prosecution materials are specifically made out, necessitating trial of the matter. Therefore, dismissal of discharge petition moved by the petitioner would require no interference and hence this petition is liable to be dismissed”, stated the Court.As such, the Court dismissed the criminal revision petition. Counsel for Petitioner: Advocate Sachin RameshCounsel for Respondents: Public Prosecutor M P Prasanth Case Number: Crl.Rev.Pet No. 1091 of 2024Case Title: XXX v State of Kerala Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 36Click here to Read/Download Order

Medical Evidence Of Hymen Being Intact By Itself Not Sufficient To Hold That There Was No Penetrative Sexual Assault Or Coitus: Kerala HC

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