Delhi HC: POCSO Law "Misused" As Family Objects Girl's Friendship With Accused

POCSO Act Misused: The Delhi High Court expressing concern over the practice of police booking a young boy for sexual assault after being insisted by the girl's family who object to her relationship with the accused. The court said that the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act is being 'misused' and 'misapplied'.

The court granted bail to a 21-year-old man accused of raping a minor. The accused claimed that he was in a relationship with the girl. The Delhi High Court said that it cannot ignore the friendship between the two. The ruling also added that the FIR seemed as if the girl's family had insisted because they were embarrassed about the girl getting pregnant and it would draw them backlash in the society.

Justice Subramonium Prasad said that consensual sex between a minor girl and the man is in the grey area as the minor's consent cannot be said to be a valid one as per the law but whether the accused should get bail or not is a different question.

The judge said, "Whereas, what has become a trite and unfortunate practice is that the police are filing POCSO cases at the behest of the family of a girl who object to her friendship and romantic involvement with a young boy. The rigor of the law is, therefore, being misapplied and subsequently misused."

The court observed that the age of the accused, the girl, their photographs together which point towards a relationship between them, the discrepancies in the statements in the medical report, before the magistrate and the FIR all provide for a cause to grant bail to the accused.

It was also pointed by the court that the accused is only 21-year-old with his whole life ahead of him. The family lodged the FIR under the sexual exploitation section of the POCSO Act to get the girl's pregnancy terminated and avoid social embarrassment, the court ruled.

The man has been directed to stay at his parent's home in Uttar Pradesh's Hardoi, the address of which has been verified. He is also asked to pay a personal bond of ₹ 50,000 with two sureties of the like amount.

As per the FIR, the girl claimed that she was in Class 12 in January 2020 and the man used to stalk her and expressed his intention to make friends but she resisted. As per the complainant, the man allegedly stopped her one day when she was on her way to home and gave her some snacks which made her faint.

When the girl woke up, she felt pain and realised that she was raped. When the girl started vomiting after some time, her family took her to a doctor who revealed that she was pregnant. After the POCSO case was lodged against the man, her pregnancy was medically terminated, as per reports.