Touching Private Parts Of Minor Not Offence Of Rape, But Sexual Assault Under POCSO Act : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court held that merely touching the private parts of a minor girl will not constitute the offence of rape under Section 375/376AB of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) or penetrative sexual assault under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.The Court clarified that such conduct would instead amount to the offence of “aggravated sexual assault” as defined under Section 9(m) of the POCSO Act, as well as the offence of “outraging the modesty of a woman” under Section 354 of the IPC.Touching the private parts of a minor, without any penetrative act, will be the offence of sexual assault under Section 7 of the POCSO Act. If the victim is aged below 12 years, such an act would amount to aggravated sexual assault.A bench comprising Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Joymalya Bagchi delivered the ruling while hearing the appeal of Laxman Jangde, who had been sentenced to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment for offences under Section 376AB IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act.The victim was a girl aged below 12 years.On examining the case record, the bench noted that the consistent allegation was that the accused touched the victim's private parts while simultaneously touching his own. There was no further act. “In this view of the matter, we find that the conviction under Section 376AB of the IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act cannot be sustained,” the bench observed. The bench pointed out that the assumption of penetrative sexual assault by the trial court, as affirmed by the High Court, was unsustainable since it was unsupported by the medical report, the victim's statements given on three occasions, or her mother's testimony.The Court held that a plain reading of the evidence showed the offence alleged did not satisfy the ingredients of either Section 375 IPC or Section 3(c) of the POCSO Act. Accordingly, the conviction under those provisions was set aside.“A plain reading of the evidence and other materials on record reveal that the offence made out from such allegations do not satisfy the ingredients of either Section 375 of the IPC or Section 3(c) of the POCSO Act. Thus, to that extent, the conviction cannot be sustained.”However, the bench found that the acts attributed to the accused would squarely fall under Section 354 IPC and Section 9(m) of the POCSO Act. Consequently, the conviction was modified to offences under Section 354 IPC read with Section 10 of the POCSO Act.The sentence was accordingly reduced to rigorous imprisonment of five years under Section 354 IPC and seven years under Section 10 of the POCSO Act, with both sentences to run concurrently. The fine of ₹50,000 was retained, with a direction that it be paid to the victim as compensation within two months.Case : Laxman Jangde v State of Chhattisgarh Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 928Click here to read the order

Touching Private Parts Of Minor Not Offence Of Rape, But Sexual Assault Under POCSO Act : Supreme Court

LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK

Tags