Oral Penetration Amounts to Rape Under Law, Child’s Testimony Alone Can Sustain Conviction: Chhattisgarh HC

The Chhattisgarh High Court recently upheld the life sentence awarded to a man convicted of raping a nine-year-old girl after luring her and her younger cousin to a pond on the pretext of showing them cattle.

The division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Arvind Kumar Verma dismissed the criminal appeal filed by Pritam Gir alias Ghislu, affirming the 2022 judgment of a special POCSO court in Bilaspur that had convicted him under Sections 363, 366 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 5(m)/6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

According to the prosecution, the incident occurred on December 30, 2018, in village Matiyari under Sipat police station limits in Bilaspur district. The two minor girls, cousins aged around nine and seven years, had gone out in the evening to search for their cow when the accused approached them.

The accused gave the children money to buy gutkha and persuaded them to follow him, claiming that he would show them where the cow was. Trusting him, the children accompanied the accused to a nearby pond.

Court recorded that once at the pond, the accused forcibly removed the children’s clothes and sexually assaulted them. The elder child was subjected to penetrative sexual assault, including oral penetration. The younger child also deposed that the accused restrained them and did not allow them to leave immediately.

After the incident, the children returned home crying and informed their family members. The elder child was found bleeding and in severe pain and was taken for medical examination the same evening. The child said that the accused had urinated in her mouth and beaten her. She was profusely vomiting when she reached hom. An FIR was lodged by her father soon thereafter.

Medical evidence placed before the trial court showed injuries inside and outside the private parts of the elder child. The investigating officer sent seized articles, including the victim’s clothes and the accused’s clothes, for forensic examination. The forensic science laboratory report confirmed the presence of human sperm on the victim’s undergarments as well as on the clothes seized from the accused.

During trial, the prosecution examined 21 witnesses, including both victims, medical experts, school authorities and police officials. School records were produced to establish the age of the elder child, recording her date of birth as March 16, 2009, which made her nine years old at the time of the offence.

The accused argued before the High Court that the prosecution had failed to conclusively prove the age of the victims and claimed that their testimonies were unreliable. He also contended that no ossification test had been conducted.

Rejecting these submissions, the High Court held that school admission records constituted reliable documentary evidence for determining the age of the child victim and noted that the defence had failed to rebut the prosecution evidence.

On the charge of kidnapping, court held that the accused had allured and taken the minor girls out of the lawful guardianship of their parents without consent, thereby attracting offences under Sections 363 and 366 of the IPC.

Court further held that oral penetration squarely falls within the definition of rape under Section 375 of the IPC and aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the POCSO Act. It reiterated that the testimony of a child victim, if natural, consistent and trustworthy, does not require corroboration as a rule of law.

Finding no legal or factual infirmity in the trial court’s judgment, the High Court dismissed the appeal.

Case Title: Pritam Gir @ Ghislu vs. State of Chhattisgarh

Judgment Date: January 5, 2025

Bench: Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Arvind Kumar Verma