Kerala High Court Rules Delay in Reporting Child Sexual Assault Does Not Warrant Case Dismissal
Delay in filing complaint of sexual assault of child not reason to dismiss case: HC
The Hindu
Image: The Hindu
The Kerala High Court ruled that delays in filing complaints of child sexual assault cannot lead to case dismissal. The court upheld the conviction of a man from Palakkad for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl in December 2010, emphasizing the legitimacy of the delay in reporting the incident.
- 01Delay in filing a complaint does not justify dismissal of a sexual assault case.
- 02The Kerala High Court upheld the conviction of a Palakkad man for child sexual assault.
- 03The assault occurred in December 2010 and was reported 15 days later.
- 04The accused threatened the victim and took photos of the assault.
- 05The court ordered the accused to surrender to the trial court.
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The Kerala High Court recently ruled that a delay in filing a complaint regarding the sexual assault of a child should not be a reason to dismiss the case. This decision came during an appeal by a man from Palakkad, who was challenging his conviction and sentence from 2016. The case involved the assault of an 11-year-old girl in December 2010, during which the accused threatened her and took photos of the act. The victim reported the incident to the police 15 days later. The court found that there was a valid reason for the delay in filing the First Information Report (FIR) and upheld the original punishment. The court has directed the accused to surrender to the trial court in Palakkad.
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This ruling reinforces the importance of allowing cases of child sexual assault to proceed regardless of delays in reporting, potentially encouraging more victims to come forward.
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