The Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld the conviction for raping an eight-year-old girl. The court said that the presence of semen is not a necessary condition to prove sexual harassment.

A division bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudipti Sharma said that just because semen was not detected, it cannot be said with certainty that sexual assault did not take place. According to the POCSO Act, doing anything wrong to the genitals or any part of the body of a child is sexual misconduct.

Defining penetrative sexual assault, the court said the accused has committed a sexual offense with a victim below the age of eight years, which is punishable under the POCSO Act. The High Court made these observations while hearing the appeal filed by the accused, who was sentenced to five years and 12 years of rigorous imprisonment under various sections, including the POCSO Act.

According to the prosecution, in 2016, the victim's neighbor had taken the girl with him. When the victim was recovered, a medico-legal test was conducted. According to the statement of the accused, he admitted to raping the victim in the bushes. After considering the evidence on record, the trial court found the accused guilty of the punishable offence.

Counsel for the appellant argued that since semen was not detected at the time of examination of the victim, it clearly proves that the accused did not commit any sexual assault against the victim.

After hearing all the parties, the High Court said that the victim, although a child witness, was trustworthy and narrated the incident in detail. Rejecting the arguments of the counsel for the appellant, the bench said that even without ejaculation, if the evidence on record shows that something wrong has happened to a minor girl, then it is sufficient to constitute the offense of sexual assault.