The Delhi High Court has dismissed the appeal of a man convicted for sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl in 2012, holding that the trial court's findings did not suffer from any legal flaw. Justice Chandrasekharan Sudha, delivering the verdict on July 23, 2026, refused to interfere with the conviction and sentence awarded by the trial court back in 2018.
Background Of The Case
According to the prosecution, the incident took place on November 29, 2012, at around noon near Ranhola Bus Stand in West Delhi, opposite Holy Convent Secondary School. The victim's mother had sent her seven-year-old daughter, along with her four-year-old brother, to a nearby halwai's shop to buy samosas, handing her ₹5 for the purchase.
When the children did not return home for a long time, the mother went looking for them. Near the shop, a local resident told her he had seen two children matching their description in a nearby alley. Walking further in, she found her daughter coming towards her, crying, while her son stood a short distance away. She initially scolded the girl for wandering off to play, and the family returned home.
However, the child kept crying softly for hours afterward. Sensing something was wrong, the mother questioned her again. The girl then told her that a man had assaulted her. When the father came home in the evening, the parents debated whether to report the matter, given concerns about social stigma, before finally deciding to act.
That evening, the couple took their daughter to the house near Ranhola Bus Stand where the alleged assault had occurred. There, the girl identified a sleeping man in a ground-floor room as her attacker. On learning his name was Ashok, the mother confronted him, and he reportedly fled from the spot. The family then approached the police station and got an FIR registered the next day, on November 30, 2012.
The child was taken for a medical examination the same night, which recorded that her hymen "appeared to be torn" along with an old blood stain on the labia majora. The accused was arrested later that night. Based on the investigation, he was chargesheeted under Section 376(2)(f) IPC and Section 4 of the POCSO Act.
Trial Court Proceedings And Appeal
In 2018, the Special POCSO Court in Tis Hazari convicted the accused under Section 376 Part-I, Section 506 Part-I IPC, and Section 6 of the POCSO Act, sentencing him to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment along with a fine, plus a separate one-year term for criminal intimidation. He challenged this conviction before the Delhi High Court.
Arguments Raised In Appeal
Appearing for the appellant, advocates Rohan J. Alva and Anant Sanghi argued that the prosecution's version had shifted at different stages - from an allegation of penile penetration in the FIR, to digital penetration in the child's statement before a magistrate, and back to penile penetration during trial testimony. They also pointed to conflicting accounts of the arrest time and place, the absence of a Test Identification Parade, and gaps in the medical report, which did not give a conclusive opinion on assault.
The State and the counsel for the victim opposed these arguments, submitting that the child had consistently identified the accused before her parents and in court, and that there was no reason for false implication.
Court's Observations
Justice Sudha held that minor inconsistencies in a child witness's account, especially after a two-year gap between the incident and the trial, were natural and did not shake the core of the prosecution's case. The court noted that medical evidence is only corroborative in nature and cannot override reliable ocular testimony unless it completely rules out the possibility of the assault having occurred as described.
On the competency issue, the bench observed that the trial court had been satisfied the child could give rational answers, and that the defence itself had conducted a full cross-examination without ever suggesting she lacked understanding.
Decision
Calling the appeal without merit, the Delhi High Court dismissed it and upheld the trial court's conviction and sentence in full.
Case Details:
Case Title: Ashok vs. State
Case Number: CRL.A. 1197/2018
Judge: Hon'ble Ms. Justice Chandrasekharan Sudha
Decision Date: July 23, 2026
