POCSO survivor cannot be denied compensation solely due to absence of injury marks: Allahabad HC

The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a survivor of sexual assault under the POCSO Act cannot be denied compensation solely due to the absence of injury marks in a medical report. In the order issued on October 22, 2026, a Division Bench of Justice Shekhar B Saraf and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai directed authorities to pay ₹3 lakh to a minor under the Uttar Pradesh Rani Lakshmi Bai Mahila Samman Kosh scheme within 10 days of the production of a certified copy of the order.

The court held that the district steering committee's decision to withhold compensation was contrary to law and the provisions of the 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 district committee had cited the absence of medical evidence supporting penetrative sexual assault as the reason for withholding compensation.

However, 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 the absence of injury marks cannot negate an allegation of sexual assault.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Hindu's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.