POCSO Act - Non-Reporting Of Sexual Assault Despite Knowledge Is A Serious Crime : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court observed that non-reporting of sexual assault against a minor child despite knowledge is a serious crime.More often than not, it is an attempt to shield the offenders of the crime of sexual assault, the bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and CT Ravikumar said while setting aside the Bombay High Court order that quashed criminal proceedings against a medical practictioner who was accused of offence of not reporting POCSO.BackgroundAn FIR was registered against unidentified person(s) on the accusation of commission of sexual offences against minor tribal girls who were students of Infant Jesus English Public High School, Rajura residing in its girls' hostel. During the investigation, Superintendent of the hostel and four others, were arrested and arraigned as accused in the crime. One other accused was a Medical Practitioner appointed for treatment of girls admitted to the said Girls' hostel and the victim girls were taken to him. He was arraigned as an accused after the investigation revealed that he had knowledge about the incidents occurred as the victim girls revealed in their statements recorded under Section 161 of Cr.P.C. The accused was under a legal obligation, in terms of the provisions under Section 19(1) of the POCSO Act upon getting the knowledge about committing of an offence under the POCSO Act, to provide such information either to the Special Juvenile Police Unit or the local police. Allowing petition under Section 482 CrPC filed by the said accused, the High Court quashed the proceedings against him observing that there is no evidence to implicate the applicant in the said crime.We are not peeved, but certainly painedIn its judgment allowing the appeal, the bench made the following observations at the outset:This Court in Shalu Ojha v. Prashant Ojha observed: "this is an unfortunate case where the provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 are rendered simply a pious hope of the Parliament and a teasing illusion for the appellant". Even while, borrowing those words, we may say, we are not peeved, but certainly pained, as a legitimate prosecution under another Act viz., the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short "POCSO Act"), has been throttled at the threshold by the exercise of power under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short 'Cr.P.C.'), without permitting the materials in support to it to see the light of the day in respect of misprision of sexual assault against minor tribal girls in a girls' hostelPrompt and proper reporting of the commission of offence under the POCSO Act is of utmost importanceAs per Section 19(1) any person (including the child), who has apprehension that in offence under this Act is likely to be committed or has knowledge that such an offence has been committed, he shall provide such information to,--(a) the Special Juvenile Police Unit; or (b) the local police. The bench noted that violation of Section 19 (1) is punishable under Section 21 only with imprisonment for a short duration viz., six months and observed:"One may think that it is not an offence to be taken seriously. However, according to us that by itself is not the test of seriousness or otherwise of an offence of failure to discharge the legal obligation...Prompt and proper reporting of the commission of offence under the POCSO Act is of utmost importance and we have no hesitation to state that its failure on coming to know about the commission of any offence thereunder would defeat the very purpose and object of the Act. We say so taking into account the various provisions thereunder. Medical examination of the victim as also the accused would give many important clues in a case that falls under the POCSO Act. Section 27 (1) of the POCSO Act provides that medical examination of a child in respect of whom any offence has been committed under the said Act, shall, notwithstanding that a First Information Report or complaint has not been registered for the offence under the Act, be conducted in accordance with Section 164 A of the Cr.P.C., which provides the procedures for medical examination of the victim of rape In this contextual situation, it is also relevant to refer to Section 53 A of Cr.P.C. that mandates for examination of a person accused of rape by a medical practitioner. It is also a fact that clothes of the parties would also offer very reliable evidence in cases of rape. We refer to the aforesaid provisions only to stress upon the fact that a prompt reporting of the commission of an offence under POCSO Act would enable immediate examination of the victim concerned and at the same time, if it was committed by an unknown person, it would also enable the investigating agency to commence investigation without wasting time and ultimately to secure the arrest and medical examination of the culprit. There can be no two views that in relation to sexual offences medical evidence has much corroborative...

POCSO Act - Non-Reporting Of Sexual Assault Despite Knowledge Is A Serious Crime : Supreme Court

Ashok KM

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