Prayagraj. Allahabad High Court has made strict comments on the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act. The High Court gave an important decision during the hearing of a case. The High Court, while rejecting the petition of the appellant to withdraw the case registered under POCSO, said that the crime under this law cannot be set aside on the basis of mere agreement between the accused and the victim.
Justice Samit Gopal of the Allahabad High Court, while dismissing the plea of accused Sanjeev Kumar under the POCSO Act, said, ‘When the consent of the minor victim is not material for committing the crime, then for all practical purposes at all stages including settlement, her consent does matter. Will not keep. Merely because the minor victim has later agreed to compromise with the petitioner, it will not be sufficient to quash the case under the POCSO Act.
what is the whole matter
A case was registered against the accused at Bilariganj police station in Azamgarh district under IPC sections 376 (rape), 313 (abortion without woman’s consent) and section 3/4 of the POCSO Act, the hearing of which was conducted by the Special Judge in Azamgarh. Is going before POCSO). The accused had sought a stay on the criminal trial and quashing of the trial court’s order issuing summons.
The accused gave the argument of compromise
The accused had approached the High Court for a decision on the pending case citing the agreement between the two parties. Opposing the petition of the accused petitioner, the counsel for the state government said that he is accused of raping a minor girl for three years and at the time of the alleged crime, the girl was 15 years old.
Reference to Supreme Court decisions
Referring to various decisions of the Supreme Court, in its decision of April 2, it said that these crimes have been allegedly committed under special laws like POCSO, hence the case cannot be quashed merely on the basis of agreement. Even if the aggrieved party does not agree to it. There should be no scope for compromise in the matter of POCSO.
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Tags: court, POCSO, pocso act, POCSO case
FIRST PUBLISHED: April 10, 2024, 03:20 IST