‘Woman can also be tried under POCSO’

New Delhi : A female can also face criminal proceedings under POCSO for committing the offence of “penetrative sexual assault” on a child, and the offence is not restricted to only male offenders, the Delhi High Court has held.

Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani said the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was enacted to protect children from sexual offences, “regardless of whether an offence is committed upon a child by a man or a woman”.

There was no reason why the word “person” appearing in section 3 (penetrative sexual assault) should be read as referring only to a “male”, he added. The court’s decision was delivered last week on a plea by an accused in a POCSO case, who argued that since she was a woman, the offences of “penetrative sexual assault” and “aggravated penetrative sexual assault” can simply not be made out against her.

The accused, while assailing the framing of charges against her, contended that a plain reading of the provision showed that it only, and repeatedly, used the pronoun “he”, meaning that the intent of the legislature was only to make a man liable for the offence. However, the court said there is no reason why the word “person’ appearing in section 3 of the POCSO Act should be read as referring only to a “male”.

“It is accordingly held that the acts mentioned in sections 3 and 5 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act are an offence regardless of the gender of the offender, provided the acts are committed upon a child,” the court said in the judgment. “Giving due regard to the fact that the Legislature enacted the POCSO Act in order to provide protection to children from sexual offences – regardless of whether an offence is committed upon a child by a man or a woman – the court must not interpret any provision of the statute that derogates from the legislative intent and purpose,” it stated.