Cops invoking POCSO at behest of girl's parents unfortunate: HC
New Delhi: Expressing concerns over the unfortunate practice of police invoking provisions of sexual assault at the behest of a girl's family objecting to her involvement with a boy, the Delhi High Court has said the rigors of the POCSO law are being misapplied and misused.
The high court, granting bail to a 21-year-old man who was accused of raping a minor girl with whom he claimed to be in a relationship, said it cannot ignore the friendship between the two and added that it appeared the FIR was lodged at the insistence of the girl's family which was embarrassed on finding out that she was pregnant and fearful of social repercussions — wanting to medically terminate the pregnancy.
"Consensual sex has been in legal grey area because the consent given by minor cannot be said to be a valid consent in the eyes of law. The short question which arises is as to whether the petitioner (man) should be granted bail or not," the court noted. "Whereas, what has become a trite and unfortunate practice is that the police are filing POCSO cases at the behest of the family of a girl who object to her friendship and romantic involvement with a young boy," Justice Subramonium Prasad continued.
The court said the age of man and girl, photographs which categorically pointed towards a relationship between the two and discrepancies in the statements given at the time of recordings of medical report, FIR and before the magistrate are all mitigating factors that tilt the balance towards granting bail. The court noted that the girl has no objection
to grant of bail, said they both are more or less of the same age and this fact cannot be overlooked that the accused is only 21 years old, having a complete life ahead of him.
According to the FIR, the girl complained that she was 16 years of age and a student of class 12th and in January last year, the man used to stalk her while she was on her way to school and he had expressed his intention to make friends with her but she resisted. She said that the accused had then allegedly lured her to a house last year, where she was purportedly drugged and raped. She had not initially told her parents but later when the pregnancy was discovered, she filed a complaint.
The man, while seeking bail, submitted that he had developed friendship with the girl in school and while the girl was 18, he was 21 and that the complainant has been coerced by her family members to file the FIR.
