What is the criminal law? In plain words, it is the last resort for a society whose conscience is constantly shaken by its failure to control the animalistic instincts of humans. Children, being the most vulnerable section, require shielding in a more sophisticated way. That is why, in India, there is a special POCSO Act for them. Sadly, bad faith has entered this domain as well. It is now being misused to take revenge on adults.
Punjab and Haryana High Court’s observation on POCSO Act
In June 2021, the parents of a 17-year-old girl married her off to a person whom she did not like. She was already in a relationship with another man. Three months after the marriage, she fled from her marital home and married her lover. Her parents did not like it and alleged that the teenage girl had been sexually harassed by her adult lover.
The accused was put in judicial custody after a POCSO charge. Interestingly, the girl herself approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court, asking to protect her new husband from her parents.
The High Court granted the bail, citing its own order in Dharmender Singh v. State (Govt. of NCT) BAIL APPL. 1559/2020. In Vijayalakshmi vs State, the Madras High Court stated, “What came to be a law to protect and render justice to victims and survivors of child abuse can become a tool in the hands of certain sections of society to abuse the process of law.”
Also read: “Live a Happy Married life”: SC tells POCSO accused man who married his underage niece
POCSO Act is child-friendly
It is indeed a fact that, in recent times, the POCSO Act has certain stains on its name. The stated objective of the POCSO Act is to protect children from sexual assault, sexual harassment, pornography, and other heinous crimes.
Special courts are there to ensure expedient hearings. The Act mandates a complete trial within one year. For this purpose, the Honorable SC also laid down guidelines in Alakh Alok Srivastava vs. Union of India.
In other cases like State of Karnataka v. Shivanna, Hari Dev Acharya, Gaya Prasad Pal, and Balaji Sarjerao Kamble, among others, various courts of record tried to make it as child-friendly as possible. The reforms include recording under Section 164 not being mandatory to make the process of age verification easier. In a skin-to-skin case, the Supreme Court ruled that clauses of POCSO Act should be interpreted so that shrewd criminals cannot use them in the future.
Also read: Kerala does not only top the literacy rates, but also POCSO cases!
Used by adults for nefarious gains
While all these developments are applauded, they have unintended consequences as well. A victim-centric approach makes it easier for adult handlers of victims to use the act against their enemies. In March of this year, a woman falsely accused a 48-year-old professor of assaulting her minor daughter.
A few months before that, a father had made false allegations against eight school staff members for assaulting her daughter in the principal’s office. In both these cases, a basic CCTV recording was enough to acquit the accused.
These people were lucky to live in the metro. In other parts of the country, it is not that easy. POCSO courts are filled with cases involving tutored children by their parents, police officials, and other adults. In the Ramlal case, the court found that the alleged victim was repeating lines tutored by the police.
Also read: Mockery of the POCSO Act; Maulana comes to court and marries rape victim, a minor, to her rapist
Tutoring of children is more common in cases involving marital disputes. What happens is that when fathers are fighting for custody of their child, mothers accuse them of molesting the child. The allegation is used as leverage in family courts.
Over the years, courts have expressed disappointment over them. Jaseer Aboobaker v. State of Kerala; Anu P. Kumar v. State of Kerala Varun Bansal v. Vibha Bansal and Swarup Mohan v. State of Kerala are a few of those cases.
In one case, a woman accused her estranged husband of having an illicit sexual relationship with her 11-year-old daughter. After getting to the truth, the Madras High Court Judge said that the case had shocked the conscience of the court.
It is now explicit that the act has become a tool to settle scores. At the same time, it is also necessary to protect genuine victims. Until false accusers are given the same punishment as actual perpetrators, the menace is not going to stop. It is high time for the judiciary to take the lead.
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