Delhi High Court pulls up police for invoking Pocso Act after assuming victim a minor

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has pulled up police for invoking Section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against an accused in an alleged rape case, presuming that the victim must be a minor as she was in Class 12 at the time of the incident.

As a bench of Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar was dealing with the plea seeking quashing of the rape case on the basis of a compromise between parties, he asked the prosecutor's counsel that how the provision was invoked here.

Counsel submitted that since the victim was in Class 12 at the time of the incident, it was presumed that she must be a minor.

At this, Judge Bhatnagar said: "The submissions made by leaned APP for the state are highly preposterous. Without any document on record, how can one presuppose that victim is a minor, even a major girl can be in 12th Standard."

Counsel for police then sought time to file a status report.

The court also issued a notice to the DCP to appear on the next date of hearing to explain why the investigating officer was not present in the court on Wednesday, and listed the matter for the next hearing on March 7.

Section 6 of the POCSO Act states that "whoever commits aggravated penetrative sexual assault shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than twenty years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of natural life of that person and shall also be liable to fine, or with death".