The Delhi High Court has upheld the 12-year imprisonment of a man accused of sexually assaulting a four-and-a-half-year-old girl, emphasizing that the mere absence of injuries cannot negate the occurrence of penetrative sexual assault.
Justice Amit Bansal, presiding over the case, upheld the man's conviction for kidnapping and sexually assaulting the child, stating that there was no flaw in the trial court's judgement.
The accused's argument that there were no injuries on the victim's private parts was rejected by the high court. It stated that injuries in cases of sexual offences depend on various factors, such as the depth of insertion, and their absence doesn't necessarily indicate that sexual assault did not occur.
Justice Bansal cited Section 29 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which raises a statutory presumption against the accused in cases of sexual assault against minors. The court noted that the accused had failed to rebut this presumption through evidence or discrediting the prosecution's evidence.
The court highlighted the credibility and trustworthiness of the victim's testimony, dismissing the man's appeal against his conviction and sentence. The incident, which took place in June 2017, involved the accused luring the child to his house under the pretext of giving her a drink and subsequently assaulting her.
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