POCSO Presumption Is Not Absolute: Supreme Court Acquits Accused

Supreme Court clarifies the limits of reverse presumptions under POCSO

The Supreme Court acquitted a man who had been convicted under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and Section 363 of the Indian Penal Code. The Court held that the statutory presumptions contained in Sections 29 and 30 of the POCSO Act are important evidentiary provisions, but they do not permit a court to treat every prosecution allegation as proved.

The prosecution case concerned a two-and-a-half-year-old child who was allegedly taken by the accused to a nearby park. The trial court convicted the accused, and the Delhi High Court upheld the conviction. Before the Supreme Court, the defence highlighted contradictions in the accounts of prosecution witnesses and the medical evidence.

Foundational facts must first be proved

The Bench explained that Section 29 raises a presumption only after the prosecution establishes the foundational facts necessary to activate that presumption. Section 30 similarly deals with the presumption of a culpable mental state. These provisions modify the ordinary evidentiary position, but they do not extinguish the prosecution's basic obligation to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

The Court found material inconsistencies regarding the circumstances in which the child was examined and noted that the medical evidence did not corroborate the prosecution version. Once the defence exposed substantial contradictions and presented a probable alternative explanation, the statutory presumption could no longer carry the prosecution case by itself.

Final outcome

The Supreme Court set aside the judgments of the trial court and the Delhi High Court and acquitted the appellant. It reiterated that an accused may rebut a statutory presumption on a preponderance of probabilities, while the prosecution's burden of proving foundational facts and guilt beyond reasonable doubt remains undiluted.

Case: Deepak in JC v State Govt. of NCT Delhi

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (SC) 952

Bench: Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice N.V. Anjaria

For Appellant: Pulkit Prakash, AOR, with Nabira Farman, S.S. Sastry, Ankur Gosain, Arushi Sharma, Harsh Raj, Sriti Kashyap, Ankita Sinha, Gaurav Khanna, Arjun Mohan, Avinash Singh and Venugopal Pillai J.

For Respondent: Davinder Pal Singh, ASG, with N. Visakamurthy, Mukesh Kumar Maroria, Rajan Kumar Chourasia, Bhuvan Kapoor, Seema Bengani, Udit Dediya and Mukul Singh.

Source: https://www.livelaw.in/amp/supreme-court/presumption-of-guilt-under-pocso-act-not-absolute-supreme-court-acquits-man-550578