Madras HC Voices Concern Over Rise In Sexual Exploitation Of Children, Says Recalcitrant Attitude Of Public Must Change, Calls For Social Movement

While confirming the life imprisonment of a man convicted for sexually abusing five children, the Madras High Court emphasized that the mere absence of physical injury does not rule out the sexual acts. The doctors concluding that no injuries were found in the private parts of the children and no sign of sexual assault could be observed does not rule out the "dirty stuff" the appellant had tried on them. It is not a case of rape of an adult. The children oblivious of what is happening to them may not have resisted. Holding sexual activity with a child to be a criminal/ immoral act and emphasizing on making the society safe for children, the bench of Justice PN Prakash and Justice Hemalatha observed as under: With the rising trend of sexual exploitation of children, this recalcitrant attitude of the public that it is not their problem is purely due to the lack of empathy. The sexual abuse of children had become more prevalent and there should be a social movement against it. Moral education should focus on the importance of children and treating them with due care. Today's children are tomorrow's leaders and unless we protect them, this society will face huge crisis in future. It is our duty to make a society which is safe for children. The case against the appellant was that he had committed penetrative sexual assault on three girl children (one of whom was a three-year-old baby girl) and had also sexually assaulted two boy children. He was convicted for the offence punishable under Section 3 (a) read with 5(m) read with 6 (5 counts) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. While challenging the order of conviction, the appellant mainly contended that the children were tutored, the parents of the children had a grudge against the appellant and had falsely implicated him. He had contended that there was undue delay in lodging the police complaint. Further, the doctor who examined the children were unanimous in their conclusion that there was no sign of any sexual assault on the victim children. With respect to the first contention, the court opined that no parent would like their children to suffer even if it was to settle a personal score. Further, all the children had withstood the testimony of cross-examination and such spontaneous replies could not have come out of them if there was tutoring. In our country, children are always revered as an avatar of God for their innocence and truthfulness. They are without any blemish and can never be tutored when they themselves are victims of such sexual offenses. The court further noted that delay in giving police complaints in such cases was very natural. This was because of the limited knowledge of the POCSO Act and their traditional beliefs and inhibitions. The court noted that the parents of the victim had in fact informed the appellant's son about the misdeeds of his father and when there was no action, had informed the elders of the village. The elders, sadly, dismissed the issue stating that they could not ask such "delicate things" to the appellant. The court also noted that though the appellant had claimed that he was being falsely implicated, no such suggestion was made to the parents of the victims at the time of cross-examination. The truth was that the appellant was a pedophile who had exploited the children for his perverted sexual appetite. The appellant has been a sexual predator of children and the other factors like delay in filing the complaint or absence of injury on the person of the children or the unknown person, who wrote the complaint on behalf of P.W-5 etc., become trivial vis-a-vis the narration of the children. The heart-rending experiences of the children as deposed by them have undoubtedly swept away the aspersion cast on the parents of the victim children of falsely implicating the appellant. Thus, finding no grounds to interfere with the order of conviction, the court dismissed the appeal. Case Title: Narayanan v. State Case No: Crl A (MD) No. 255 of 2019 Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 370 Counsel for the Appellant: Mr.S.Deenadhayalan Counsel for the Respondent: Mr.A.Thiruvadi Kumar Additional Public ProsecutorClick here to read/download the judgment

Madras HC Voices Concern Over Rise In Sexual Exploitation Of Children, Says Recalcitrant Attitude Of Public Must Change, Calls For Social Movement

Upasana Sajeev

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