After POCSO act, is there need to change the Medico-Legal opinion in sexual assault?-A case report

Sexual offence is a heinous crime committed since time immemorial. With ever increasing population and decreasing moral values in the society, no age of the victim remains safe from the perpetrators of such crime. Home was thought to be the safest place where family members were guarding against sexual offences. Here, the authors present a case where a two years old female child was sexually assaulted then murdered inside her own home by her own family member. After so called Nirbhaya case, the Parliament forced to enact POCSO Act under tremendous public pressure. The POCSO Act widens the very definition of Rape under Section 375 IPC. Most of the Indian Forensic Medicine Textbooks have incorporated the changes/amendments in their subsequent editions but rarely touched the critical changes made in the section of punishment. Previously, medico-legal opinions in alleged rape cases were solely based upon the evidence of sexual intercourse, rather than legal definition of rape i.e., mere penetration or touching of penis into vagina. However, considering the division in sexual assault with varying punishments under POCSO Act, is it become necessary to change the standard medico-legal opinions in sexual offence cases? The present paper highlights the issue.