In judgement that is likely to raise eyebrows, the Allahabad high court has reduced the jail term of an accused from 10 to seven years, citing that oral sex with a minor does not fall under the category of “aggravated sexual assault” under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
According to the order passed by the high court, the accused performed oral sex on the minor victim and such an offence is not punishable either under Section 5/6 or Section 9(M) of the POCSO Act. The order added the offence falls under the category of “penetrative sexual assault” and is punishable under Section 4 of POCSO Act.
This development comes after the Supreme Court on November 18 set aside yet another controversial ruling passed by Bombay high court in January that made skin-to-skin physical contact a must to hold an individual guilty of sexual assault.
A bench of justices UU Lalit, Bela M Trivedi and S Ravindra Bhat had said that restricting the interpretation of words “touch” or “physical contact” to “skin-to-skin contact” would be a “narrow and pedantic interpretation” of the provision contained in Section 7 of the POCSO Act, but also lead to an absurd interpretation of the said provision.
According to the order passed by the high court, the accused performed oral sex on the minor victim and such an offence falls under the category of “penetrative sexual assault” and is punishable under Section 4 of POCSO Act.