Madras High Court Directs POCSO Accused To Pay ₹25K Cost To Victim After Advocate Names Her In Cause Title
Sparsh Upadhyay
5 Feb 2026 5:09 PM IST
The Madras High Court (Madurai Bench) recently imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on the accused booked under the POCSO Act after finding that the name of the survivor/victim was explicitly mentioned by their counsel in the cause title of the criminal petition.
A bench of Justice L Victoria Gowri strongly condemned the conduct of the petitioners' counsel and further directed that the said amount be paid to the survivor.
Briefly put, the petitioners-accused, including the father of the victim, had approached the High Court to quash the police report filed before Principal Special Court for Exclusive Trial of cases under POCSO Act, Madurai.
A final report was filed by the police against the petitioners for the offences under Sections 294(b) and 323 of the IPC and Sections 7, 8, 16, 17, 9(n), 10, 11(1) and 12 of the POCSO Act.
The Additional Public Prosecutor raised serious objections and prayed for dismissal of the petition, contending that the charges are grave in nature.
Perusing the charge sheet filed in the case, Justice Gowri noted that there is a clear allegation of having indulged in sexual activities against the victim.
Therefore, in view of the seriousness of the allegations, the Court refused to interfere with the same, and accordingly, the petition was dismissed.
However, before parting with the case, the Court took serious exception to the naming of the victim as the second respondent in the petitioner.
In view of the same, the Court imposed a cost of Rs.25,000/- on the petitioners. It ordered that the amount be paid to the victim on or before February 12, 2026.
Additionally, the Registry was directed to delete the name of the second respondent/victim and replace the same by 'XXXXX' and post the matter for 'Reporting Compliance' on Feb 12.