‘No injury’ defence fails, Kerala High Court upholds tea vendor’s 20-year POCSO term

4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jul 30, 2026 01:43 PM IST The 61-year-old tea vendor sexually assaulted the minor boy over three years. The Kerala High Court has upheld a 61-year-old tea vendor’s 20-year rigorous imprisonment under the POCSO Act for sexually assaulting a 9-year-old boy for over three years. The court observed that the accused enticed the child to his house, in the absence of his wife, by offering leftover tea meant for his family and subjected the child to oral sex. Justice A Badharudeen noted that the accused’s potency certificate indicated that there was nothing to suggest that he was incapable of performing sexual acts.“Though the last occurrence was on August 5, 2023, going by the overt acts, the likelihood of any injury is remote. Therefore, merely because the doctor did