The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal filed before the Kerala High Court, challenging the judgement that “Poking one’s finger at the vagina of a minor does not amount to the act of ‘insertion’ into private parts, to attract the offence of ‘penetrative sexual assault’ under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act).”

In the instant matter, the accused trespassed into the house of a 12-year-old girl and sexually assaulted her while she was watching television. During her deposition, she used the word “kuthi” Which means poke.

The HC opined that “kuthi does not indicate insertion of any object like a finger into the minor’s private parts but could only mean poke. In order to attract the offence under Section 3(b) of the POCSO Act, the prosecution should have a definite case that the accused had inserted his finger into the vagina of the victim girl. Cambridge Dictionary defines the word ‘insert’ to mean ‘to put something inside something else.“

A bench comprising of Justice BR Gavai and Sanjay Karol rejected the appeal and upheld the validity of the judgement passed by the hon’ble HC of Kerala. Although it is pertinent to note that the trial court had convicted him for penetrative sexual assault which was later modified to the lesser offence of sexual assault by the HC.