The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a survivor of sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act cannot be denied compensation solely because a medical report does not record physical injuries, The Hindu reported. In an order issued on October 22, 2026, a Division Bench of Justice Shekhar B. Saraf and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai directed the authorities to pay Rs 3 lakh to the minor survivor under the Uttar Pradesh Rani Lakshmi Bai Mahila Samman Kosh scheme.
The case relates to an FIR registered at Sarojini Nagar police station in Lucknow on December 7, 2022, with a chargesheet filed on January 13, 2023, The Hindu reported. The survivor is a minor and is not being named, in line with the anonymity required in POCSO cases.
The district committee had withheld the compensation citing the absence of medical evidence supporting penetrative sexual assault, and the state counsel defended that decision by arguing that the medical report did not record injuries indicating penetration, according to The Hindu's report of the proceedings.
Rejecting that argument, the High Court observed that physical injury is not a necessary condition for establishing penetrative sexual assault under Section 3 of the POCSO Act, and that the absence of injury marks cannot by itself negate an allegation of sexual assault. Live Law reported that the Bench also held that once the FIR and chargesheet indicate an offence under Section 4 of the Act, the steering committee cannot undertake its own further investigation or conduct a trial to arrive at a contrary finding merely because the injury report does not show an injury.
Under the scheme, a survivor covered under Section 4 of the POCSO Act is entitled to Rs 3 lakh in all — Rs 1 lakh payable within 15 days of the FIR and the remaining Rs 2 lakh within one month of the chargesheet being filed, Live Law reported. Describing the scheme as a beneficial measure intended to alleviate the trauma and suffering of victims, the court said its provisions must be interpreted liberally, and directed that the Rs 3 lakh be paid within 10 days of the production of a certified copy of the order.