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The Allahabad High Court connected Wednesday (June 3, 2026) upheld the beingness imprisonment of an accused convicted nether the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, reaffirming that the sole grounds of a kid unfortunate is capable to prolong a condemnation if it inspires confidence.
The Court dismissed an entreaty and affirmed the condemnation of rigorous beingness imprisonment imposed connected the accused for abducting and raping a seven-year-old child.
The Court observed that the having placed the prosecutrix’s grounds connected specified a precocious pedestal, it is the work of the tribunal to scrutinise it carefully.
Noting that the victim’s statements remained wholly unwavering and were afloat corroborated by aesculapian and forensic evidence, the Court held that she qualified arsenic a “sterling witness”, making her solitary grounds capable to prolong the conviction.
A Division Bench of Justice Jai Krishna Upadhyay and Justice Siddhartha Varma observed, “Thus, the instrumentality that emerges connected the contented is that the connection of the prosecutrix, if recovered to beryllium worthy of credence and reliable, requires nary corroboration. The tribunal tin grounds condemnation of the accused connected the sole grounds of the prosecutrix.”
The Bench relied connected respective Supreme Court precedents, including Ganesan v. State represented by its Inspector of Police (2020), successful which the Supreme Court held that the solitary grounds of a prosecutrix is capable to convict an accused of rape, provided it inspires confidence, is perfectly trustworthy, unblemished, and of sterling quality.
The ruling is besides accordant with the Supreme Court’s 2025 determination successful Bhanei Prasad @ Raju v. State of Himachal Pradesh, wherever the Court held that a kid victim’s grounds requires nary corroboration and noted that Section 29 of the POCSO Act creates a statutory presumption of guilt erstwhile foundational facts are established.
