NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said non-reporting of sexual assault against a minor child despite knowledge is a serious crime and more often than not, it is an attempt to shield the offenders of the crime.
A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and C T Ravikumar pointed out the POSCO Act was enacted with avowed objective to protect the children from exploitation and it has cast a legal obligation for reporting of the offence.
"Prompt and proper reporting of the commission of offence under the POSCO 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 would defeat the very purpose and object of the Act. We say so taking into account the various provisions as medical examination of the victim as also the accused would give many important clues in a case that falls under the POCSO Act," the court said.
The bench also pointed out prompt reporting 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.
The court also said the POCSO Act made non reporting a punishable offence "to ensure that the tender age of children is not being abused and their childhood and youth is protected against exploitation".
"Looking at the penal provisions, making failure to discharge the obligation under Section 19 (1) punishable only with imprisonment for a short duration viz, six months, 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 under Section 19, punishable under Section 21 of POCSO Act," the bench said.
Acting on an appeal by the Maharashtra government, the court set aside a Bombay High Court's order which quashed criminal proceedings initiated against a doctor for failure to report sexual exploitation of 17 minor girls of tribal origin at a school in Chandrapur in 2019.
The court said it was absolutely impermissible for the High Court to arrive at the finding of absence of evidence to implicate Dr Maroti in the crime in question, upon going through the statements of the victims and also the statement of the teacher in connection with the FIR lodged on April 12, 2019 and charge sheet filed in June 8, 2019.
It noted as per the police charge sheet, Dr Maroti, who was appointed for treatment of girls, was aware of the sexual assault but failed to report it to the authorities concerned. The sexual exploitation came to light after girls studying in classes III and V fell ill and taken to general hospital.
In the case, Superintendent of the hostel and four others, namely, Narendra Laxmanrao Virulkar, Sau Neeta alias Kalpana Mahadeo Thakare, Sau Lata Madhukar Kannake, Venkateswami Bondaiyaa Jangam were arrested. During the investigation, it was found that 17 minor girls were abused by the accused.
The respondent who 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 remained silent and did not provide such information to help the accused, is the gist of the allegation against him, the court noted.
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