Delhi HC Upholds Pocso Conviction in Kashmere Gate Minor Assault Case

The Delhi High Court has upheld the conviction of a man for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old homeless boy near a railway bridge at Kashmere Gate, ruling that a child living on the streets cannot be expected to recall precise details with the accuracy of a witness from a settled environment.

Dismissing the appeal filed by the convict, Justice Chandrasekharan Sudha affirmed the trial court's decision finding the accused guilty under Section 377 (unnatural offences) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.

While maintaining the conviction originally handed down by the trial court in August 2025, the High Court modified the sentence awarded to the convict. The court reduced the 20-year prison term to 10 years on the grounds that the applicable statutory penalty at the time of the offence was a 10-year term.

The court observed that the amendment making Section 6 of the Pocso Act punishable with a minimum sentence of 20 years came into effect later, on August 16, 2019, and could not be applied retrospectively to this case.

According to the prosecution, the victim was sexually assaulted in November 2016 while he was sleeping under a railway bridge in the Kashmere Gate area. The matter was brought to light after social workers learned of the violation directly from the boy and reported the incident through the police helpline.

During the appeal, counsel representing the convict argued that his client had been falsely implicated in the case. The defence contended that the prosecution had failed to establish that the victim was under 12 years of age and pointed to several alleged inconsistencies in the child's testimony.

The High Court rejected these contentions, emphasizing that minor discrepancies cannot discard the testimony of a homeless child surviving on the street.