A Fast Track Special Court in Thiruvananthapuram on  17th January, 2022  sentenced a man to rigorous imprisonment for five years for sexually abusing a minor boy in 2020 under the  Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (‘POCSO Act’)

The case of the Prosecution was that the accused had been hired by the minor boy’s father as domestic help. One fine day, seeing the child standing alone at the verandah, the accused molested the 9-year-old boy by squeezing the boy’s penis.

The boy ran inside and narrated the ordeal to his mother, who did not believe him first but was persuaded upon the boy demonstrating precisely what occurred. A police complaint was registered immediately, and the matter went to the POCSO Court.

The prosecution successfully established that the child was a minor and that provisions of POCSO would apply in this case and convinced the Court that this was a matter of aggravated sexual assault. As such, the accused was found guilty of offences under Section 9(m) r/w 10 (Punishment for aggravated sexual assault) of the POCSO Act.

 Although there was an allegation to the tune that the convict had attempted to commit carnal intercourse on the child, this argument was discarded by the Court for want of evidence.

Special Judge R. Jayakrishnan found the accused guilty and imposed a fine of ₹ 25,000 along with imprisonment, a default of which would result in additional imprisonment of six months.
The Court ordered the government to provide the fine obtained from the convict as compensation to the boy as u/s 357(1)(b) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The matter garnered attention after the 9-year-old boy testified that the accused pressed his private parts and that he identified it to be a ‘bad touch’

According to a report Published by LiveLaw, the boy said in the court-

“That was bad touch. I learnt from school about ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’ and can differentiate between the two. The uncle is guilty and should be punished.”

This highlights the importance of imparting sensitization among children about ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’ and points out the significance of sex education imparted at the school level and the positive influence that it has on young children.

– Vaishali Jain, Advocate & Associate – Child Safety at Work