Victim's False Depiction As A Minor Is Abuse Of Court Process: Allahabad HC Mandates Prompt Age Determination Report Filing In POCSO Cases

In a significant ruling, the Allahabad High Court has directed that the police authorities/investigation officers must ensure that in every POCSO Act case, a medical report determining the victim's age is drawn up at the outset under the mandate of Section 164A of CrPC read with Section 27 of the POCSO Act, 2012 and the same is submitted to the Court without any delay. The Court directed thus while noting that the discrepancies in the victim's age in POCSO cases can substantially affect the rights and liberties of the accused. “This Court is finding that in many instances the accused-applicants have argued that medical determination of the victim's age was not got done deliberately as it would establish the majority of the victim and repudiate the prosecution case. By falsely depicting the victim as a minor the accused persons are wrongly implicated under the stringent regime of the POCSO Act only to cause their indefinite imprisonment,” a bench of Justice Ajay Bhanot observed. Further, stressing that false depiction of a victim as a minor in POCSO Act cases is an abuse of the process of court, the Court expressed its concern over discrepancies between victim ages stated in prosecution cases and those determined by medical experts thus: “Despite the statutory mandate the medical report to determine the victim's age is not drawn up and made part of investigations in a majority of cases. Absence of medical report determining the age of a victim came in the way of the Court dispensing equal justice. In these cases this Court has developed a practice to call for such reports,” the Court noted. Against this backdrop, emphasizing that medical Report determining the age of a POCSO Act offence is an imperative requirement of law and an absolute necessity of justice, the Single Judge issued the following directions: 1. The police authorities/investigation officers shall ensure that in every POCSO Act offence a medical report determining the victim's age shall be drawn up at the outset under Section 164A of the Criminal Procedure Code read with Section 27 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. The report may be dispensed with if medical opinion advises against it in the interests of the victim's health. 2. The medical report determining the age of the victim shall be created as per established procedure of law and in adherence to latest scientific parameters and medical 11 protocol. 3. The medical report determining the age of the victim shall be submitted under Section 164-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure to the Court without delay. 4. The Director General (Health), Government of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow shall also ensure that the doctors who comprise the Medical Board are duly trained and follow the established medical protocol and scientific parameters for determining the age of the victims in such cases. Constant research shall be done in this field to keep the reports in line with the latest scientific developments. The occasion to issue the abovementioned directions arose while the Court was dealing with a bail plea filed by an Accused booked under the POCSO Act. It was the case of the accused that the victim was wrongly shown as a minor of 16 years in the FIR only to falsely implicate the applicant under the stringent provisions of the POCSO Act. The Court noted that in the instant case, the medical examination to determine the victim's age was not conducted at the time of the applicant's arrest. Instead, the report was prepared later, revealing the victim's age to be 17 years old. Against this backdrop, while granting bail to the accused, the Court took note of several instances of multiple contradictions within age-related documents provided by the prosecution in numerous cases. “This Court has been finding that in the large number of cases the age of the victim set out in the prosecution case is often at variance with the age determined by the expert medical boards in accordance with the latest medical protocols. At times there are multiple contradictions in age related documents available with the prosecution. Numerous cases of false implication and abuse of POCSO Act have also been noticed. Runaway couples of young age are criminalized in the process”, the Court observed. Further, referring to Section 27 of the POCSO Act (Medical examination of a child) and Section 164A CrPC (Medical examination of the victim of rape), the Court added that the medical reports to determine the age of victims have to be drawn up by competent professionals from eminent institutions by the latest scientific parameters and medical protocols. Consequently, the Court directed that a copy of its order be communicated by the Government Advocate to the Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh for compliance and Director General (Health), Government of Uttar Pradesh. Case title - ...

Victim's False Depiction As A Minor Is Abuse Of Court Process: Allahabad HC Mandates Prompt Age Determination Report Filing In POCSO Cases

Sparsh Upadhyay

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