The court affirmed that a victim's credible testimony in sexual assault cases is sufficient for conviction, without the need for corroborative evidence.

Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice Hon'ble Shri Bibhu Datta Guru , Judge Judgment on Board Per Ramesh Sinha , Chief Justice

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1. This criminal appeal preferred under Section 415(2) of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short, ‘BNSS’) is directed against the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 28.02.2022 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, First Fast Track Court, Special Judge (POCSO Act), Durg, District – Durg (C.G.) in Special Criminal Case No. 137 of 2020, by which the appellant has been convicted and sentenced with a direction to run all the sentences concurrently in the following manner :-

2. The case of the prosecution in brief is that on dated 16.07.2020, a written complaint (Ex.P-7) was submitted by the father of the victim/child in Police Station, Jamul, District Durg to the effect that on 16.07.2020, Bantu Thakur (accused/appellant) living in the neighbourhood, sent his son, the victim/child, who is 11 years old, to get Gutkha at around 3:00 pm and when his son brought Gutkha, accused Bandu Thakur took his son/victim to the field after asking him to catch a bird, opened his penis and put it in his son's mouth twice and started kissing. When the victim child refused, the accused threatened to kill him and his parents and grandmother, due to which his son was in panic, the accused had also given him Rs. 35/-. On the basis of said written complaint, FIR (Ex.P-8) was registered against the accused/appellant under Crime No. 326/2020 for offence punishable under Sections 377 , 506 of the IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act and investigation was started.

3. During the course of investigation, Crime Details Form was prepared vide Ex.P-1 and a visual map of the incident site (Ex.P-4) was prepared by the Patwari. The statements of the witnesses were recorded under Section 161 CrPC. During the investigation, after taking consent from the victim/child vide Ex.P-2 and from her parents vide Ex.P-9, the victim child was medically examined by Dr. S. K. Agrawal (PW-7) vide Ex.P-19. After getting the virility test of the accused done vide Ex.P-18, the underwear worn on the date of the incident was seized vide Ex.P-16 and the seized underwear was sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory, Raipur, Chhattisgarh for chemical testing vide Ex.P-27 and receipt of the same was obtained vide Ex.P-28 and after chemical testing, FSL report was received vide Ex.P-29. The accused was arrested vide Ex.P-17. Documents related to the age of the victim were seized vide Ex.P-10 & Ex.P-12. Statement of the victim/child under Section 164 CrPC has been recorded by Judicial Magistrate First Class, Durg. After complete investigation, section 377, 506 IPC was registered against the accused. And section 3 (a) 04. 06 charge sheet number 319/2020 of POCSO Act was presented before the former presiding judge.

4. After completing the investigation, a charge sheet was filed against the accused under Sections 377 , 506 IPC and Section 3(a), 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act before the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge, First Fast Track Court, Special Judge (POCSO Act), Durg, wherein the case was registered as Special Criminal Case No.

137