‘Only people I know kiss me’: Four-year-old girl tells POCSO court about a 50-year-old stranger who kissed and bitten her forcibly; accused gets five years jail term

A four-year-old girl’s own words helped send a 50-year-old contractor to jail for five years. A special POCSO court in Mumbai has held that a stranger forcibly kissing and biting a small child cannot be passed off as affection. The court convicted the man of aggravated sexual assault on a child below 12 years. He has been in custody since his arrest on March 3, 2025.

A walk to the temple that ended in tears

The girl was walking a few steps ahead of her mother, on the way to a temple. The prosecution said the man caught her, held her neck and hands, and kissed her by force. He also bit her cheek and the back of her neck. She cried.


People living nearby caught him and handed him over to the police.

Affection, and who it comes from

The accused said the kiss was only a gesture of love. The court did not buy this.

During cross-examination, the girl said some people she knew would pick her up, toss her in the air, catch her, kiss her and give her back to her mother. The court said this was how known people behaved with her. The accused was not known to her. He was a stranger.

Special judge Richa D Khedekar of the Fast Track Special Court called his explanation “not believable and trustworthy”. The kiss, she held, could not be seen as an act of love or affection.

Can a court rely on a child’s word?

Age alone is no reason to throw out a child’s evidence, the court said. It agreed that young witnesses can be tutored or influenced. But it found this girl’s testimony reliable, looking at her age, the way she deposed and the other evidence backing her up.

The prosecution examined eight witnesses. They were the girl, her mother, an eyewitness, the local resident who caught the accused, investigating officers and a medical officer. The court called the evidence “reliable and trustworthy”. It also held that his sexual intent stood proved through the legal presumption that applies in such cases.

The money dispute and other objections

The accused denied the charge and said he had been falsely framed. He claimed he had done construction work at the informant’s house and that her husband still owed him Rs 70,000.

The court pointed out that he raised this only in his final statement. There was no document and no witness to support it. The judge termed it “an afterthought defence”.

The defence also pointed to delay in recording witness statements, the lack of a complete medical examination, alleged tutoring of the mother and some inconsistencies in the evidence.

On the delay, the court said an accused cannot gain from gaps in the investigation when the eyewitness evidence is credible.

On the medical examination, it noted that the mother had not given consent for it. This did not damage the case, the court said, because the charge was about kissing and biting. There was no allegation of penetration or injury.

Why only the minimum sentence

The court gave the minimum punishment. It considered his age, his clean record and the need to give him a chance to reform.

But the judge was clear that the offence is serious. Sexual assault on a four-year-old must be punished “at the initial stage”, the court said, so that graver offences are prevented. “The punishment should be a message to the society for prevention of such acts by any person against any minor victim,” the judge said.

Fine and compensation

Besides five years of rigorous imprisonment, the accused must pay a fine of Rs 10,000. If he fails to pay, he will serve two more months of simple imprisonment. The girl gets Rs 5,000 as compensation.

The time he has already spent in jail will be set off against the sentence.

The chargesheet was filed on May 9, 2025. Charges were framed on April 8, 2026, and evidence started the next day.

(Inputs from TOI)