A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has sentenced a man to 20 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) for raping a minor girl in 2021, relying on the deposition of the six-year-old victim and other prosecution witnesses.
A special court in India has sentenced a man to "triple death sentence" for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl last year. The court deemed the crime "rarest of rare" and declared the accused "extremely cruel and bestial." His mother and sister were also sentenced to two years in prison for helping to cover up the crime.
Two persons were arrested for alleged voyeurism after some female students at a private engineering college in Medchal, near Hyderabad, accused the cooking staff of recording them in the hostel washrooms, police said on Sunday.
The victim alleged that he was being sexually assaulted for nearly two years, they said.
A Bengaluru court on Thursday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Yediyurappa in the case registered against him under the POCSO Act on March 14 this year.
Police in Thane have arrested a school principal and staff member after allegations that girl students were forced to strip to check for menstruation. The incident sparked outrage among parents, leading to protests and a police investigation.
The Supreme Court on Monday used the legal term 'inchoate crime' to refer to mere possession of any child pornographic material that it said would constitute offences under the POCSO even if not disseminated further.
Observing that 'oral sex' with a minor does not come under the 'aggravated sexual assault' category in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Allahabad high court has reduced the jail term of a man convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy from 10 years to seven years.
Following the granting of a three-month interim bail to religious preacher Asaram Bapu, police in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, have heightened security measures at the residence of the rape survivor's family. The family, who have expressed concerns for their safety, will now need to inform the police before traveling outside the district. Asaram was convicted in 2018 for sexually assaulting a minor girl in 2013 and sentenced to life imprisonment. His latest conviction in Gujarat in 2023 resulted in another life sentence. The police have deployed a guard at the victim's house, provided personal gunners for her father and brother, and installed surveillance cameras. The police are also monitoring the area and have prohibited unauthorized gatherings. The victim's father expressed concern over Asaram's ability to manage his affairs from outside prison despite his health issues.
The Supreme Court has extended the benefits of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act to minors who engage in consensual sexual activity by exempting doctors from disclosing their identity to the local police.
The police arrested the accused on Thursday and booked him under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, an official said.
Bus services between Karnataka and Maharashtra have been suspended following attacks on buses and their crew. The decision was taken given the tension prevailing in the border district of Belagavi over a sensitive issue. The language row began after a group of people allegedly intercepted a KSRTC bus and assaulted its conductor and driver for not speaking to a passenger in Marathi. The passenger, a minor girl, also filed a complaint stating that the conductor misbehaved with her. However, the family of the minor girl has decided to withdraw the case and urged people to stop escalating the matter into a language dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra.
According to the procedure, all reports of the law panel are submitted to the Union law ministry, which then forwards those to the ministries concerned.
The girl from Bihar -- who had been living in the hostel with her sister -- alleged in her complaint on Tuesday that the tiffin boy repeatedly raped her while the hostel owner warned her against disclosing the incident, Superintendent of Police (Kota City) Sharad Choudhary said.
"The act of pressing of the breast of the child aged 12 years, in the absence of any specific detail as to whether the top was removed or whether he inserted his hand inside top and pressed her breast, would not fall in the definition of 'sexual assault'. It would certainly fall within the definition of the offence under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code," it said.
IPL side Royal Challengers Bengaluru's under-fire pacer Yash Dayal has been accused of raping a minor in an FIR registered against him by Jaipur Police.
The survivor's father claimed the family had been cheated by their lawyer who did not file an objection to Asaram's bail plea despite getting all the papers ready.
An FIR has been lodged in this case against the junior doctor of the pediatric department of the SN Medical College and Hospital, they said.
The alleged crime in the ambulance being operated under '108' emergency service took place on November 22 and two of the four accused in the case, including the driver, have been arrested, they said.
A Delhi court on Friday ordered framing of charges against former Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in a sexual harassment case lodged by six female wrestlers.
A special court in Tamil Nadu's Thanjavur on Tuesday sentenced a PhD scholar to five life imprisonments, to be served concurrently, for sexually assaulting minors and posting videos of the acts on the Internet to make money, officials said.
The high court said the psychological impact on a POCSO case victim being present in court during the arguments is grave.
A sessions court in Indore has acquitted a bangle seller from a minority community, accused of molesting a minor girl, noting that the prosecution failed to establish its case even by 'leshmatra' (an iota).
The non-reporting of sexual assault against a minor despite knowledge is a "serious crime" and an attempt to shield the offenders, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday.
Uttar Pradesh has the highest pendency with more than three-fourths or 77.77 per cent of the total POCSO cases that were filed between November 2012 and February 2021, according to the data.
The Madras High Court has asserted that press freedom and privacy are intertwined and that surveillance constitutes an attack on the press, which is considered the fourth pillar of democracy. The court made this observation while addressing petitions filed by the Chennai Press Club and three reporters seeking protection from harassment by a police Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the leak of an FIR concerning a sexual assault case at Anna University. The court highlighted the importance of protecting journalists' sources and criticized the SIT for seizing reporters' mobile phones without justification and for failing to adequately investigate the source of the leaked FIR.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside an order of the Calcutta high court in which it acquitted an accused in a sexual assault case and made 'objectionable' observations advising adolescent girls to 'control sexual urges'.
The Supreme Court Thursday reserved judgement on appeals against the Bombay High Court verdict which had held that no offence of sexual assault under the POCSO Act is made out if there is no direct 'skin-to-skin' contact between accused and the victim.
A Jodhpur police team visited sacked Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha's official residence in Jaipur on Thursday in connection with the investigation of a rape case registered against two men under the POCSO Act, officials said.
Chief pontiff of Murugha Math Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, who has been arrested for alleged sexual abuse of two minor girls, was on Friday remanded to police custody till September 5.
"Consensual sex has been in legal grey area because the consent given by minor cannot be said to be a valid consent in the eyes of law. The short question which arises is as to whether the petitioner (man) should be granted bail or not," the Delhi HC said.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih observed it was pained to say that some of the observations made in the high court order depicted total insensitiveness and an inhuman approach.
The police sub-inspector accused of raping a minor girl in Rajasthan's Dausa district has been arrested and a case registered against him under relevant sections, including Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the SC/ST Act, officials said on Saturday.
After he was set free, the seer was staying at the Virakta Math in Davangere, from where he was arrested by the Chitradurga police on on Monday.
The accused, who is above 50 years of age and an athletics coach, is currently lodged in Tihar Jail under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Union Minister Raksha Khadse on Sunday lodged a police complaint regarding the harassment of her daughter and some of her friends by a group of boys at an event in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district.
Section 375 (rape) of IPC has an exception clause which says "sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape."
Nearly 3,000 polling booths have been identified as sensitive, and special security arrangements, including drone surveillance, have been ensured at some of these locations.
'If it is not reversed, it will set a dangerous precedent.'
Groping a minor's breast without 'skin to skin contact' cannot be termed as sexual assault as defined under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Bombay high court has said.
