‘Chest, breast synonymous’: Kerala High Court upholds guilt for minor boy’s assault

The order added that “when considering the ingredients of the offence of sexual assault as defined under section 7 (sexual assault) of the POCSO Act, spoken by a victim stating that the accused grabbed on his chest with sexual intent, the only inference to be drawn is that the accused grabbed on the breast…” 

On May 15, 2022, a 12-year-old boy was sexually assaulted by the accused, who pressed his chest and caught hold of his abdomen from behind. Accordingly, the prosecution alleged offences, including sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault.

Justice A Badharudeen heard a man’s plea challenging his conviction under the POCSO Act.

It was further alleged that the man caught hold of the survivor’s hand and offered Rs 50 to go with him to a vacant house nearby. The boy ran home from the place and told his parents about the incident. 

Advocates T U Sujith Kumar and Winston K V appearing for the accused submitted that the mere touch or catch on the chest of a child would not constitute a sexual assault offence. The counsel argued that, though touching the breast of a child with sexual intent would be sufficient to find sexual assault, the words ‘chest’ and ‘breast’ are different organs. 

‘Chest vs breast’

The court said the Oxford dictionary defines the breast as organs of a woman’s body that produce milk or the similar smaller and underdeveloped organs on a man’s body, whereas Webster’s dictionary defines the word chest as ‘the upper front part of the body of humans and some animals, between the stomach and the neck, containing the heart and the lungs’. 

The high court observed that although there is a medical and anatomical distinction between the terms “chest” and “breast” in cases of sexual molestation, chest is commonly used as a synonym for breast. The court held that the child’s statement that the accused grabbed his chest with sexual intention would indicate grabbing of the breast area, and the distinction between the two terms cannot defeat the allegation.

The court set aside the conviction and sentence imposed by the special judge under aggravated sexual assault of the POCSO Act, and convicted the accused under sexual assault. The court sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 and, in default of payment of the fine, to undergo default imprisonment for a period of two weeks.