Latest news with #PreventionofChildrenfromSexualOffences
New Indian Express
a day ago
- New Indian Express
Karnataka HC refuses to quash POCSO case against faculty of research centre
BENGALURU: Refusing to quash proceedings against a faculty of the central premier research institute in the city who has been booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act for his alleged sexual assault on a 10-year-old girl, the Karnataka High Court directed the special court to conclude the trial within three months since considerable time has been passed after the incident. 'The allegation is that the daughter of the complainant was playing and the petitioner, an Assistant Professor, was standing behind the window screen. After some time, the petitioner comes and touches the hips and further touched the private parts of the daughter with the clothes on. This is one statement. The other statements are identical in that the petitioner has touched them in the same manner that he has touched the daughter of the de facto complainant... The law is well settled that even one credible statement - if sufficient - can call for a trial,', said Justice M Nagaprasanna while rejecting the petition filed by the accused faculty. According to the complaint dated September 30, 2018, the accused is an Assistant Professor. When his nine-year-old daughter wanted to celebrate her birthday, all the neighbouring apartment residents near the research institute were invited.
Hindustan Times
05-06-2025
- Hindustan Times
Haryana man held for raping kids, sharing videos
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a man from Hisar in Haryana for allegedly raping children and creating, uploading, browsing, collecting, and exchanging child sexual abuse material online, the agency said on Wednesday. The activities of the accused, identified as Somnath, were detected through an Interpol database. 'In furtherance to its strong commitment in combating the menace of child sexual exploitation and bring the perpetrators to justice, CBI has arrested the accused from district Hisar, Haryana, on allegations of committing rape, penetrative sexual assault etc on multiple minor victims,' the federal agency said in a statement. CBI arrested Somnath from his residence in Hisar and recovered incriminating gadgets on Tuesday. It found he allegedly raped, sexually assaulted, threatened and used multiple children for pornography. The agency said it registered a case on May 29 after detecting Somnath's activities while examining videos and images on the Interpol's International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) database. The ICSE is an intelligence and investigative mechanism that allows investigators to share data on child sexual abuse cases across 70 countries, including India. The database has helped identify 42,300 victims and 18,300 offenders. CBI said it detected the child sexual abuse on its own, as the victims or their families did not report the incidents to police or any law enforcement agency. 'Demonstrating qualitative investigative skills, due diligence, and procedural efficiency, CBI detected CSAM [child sexual abuse material] images and videos from the Interpol's ICSE database…,' CBI said. The agency added that the material was also linked with the Google-generated cyber tipline reporting on child sexual exploitation and submitted to the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C). 'The analysis of the images and videos using cyber forensic tools revealed the location of the incident to district Hisar in Haryana, depicting multiple victims of sexual assault and abuse by the accused,' CBI said. Somnath was arrested three months after CBI in March launched operation 'Hawk' to dismantle the cybercrime networks involved in online child sexual exploitation with international linkages based on inputs from the US. Hisar police said they did not have any information about the crime. 'We heard about accused Somnath on TV channels and we have no inputs about him,' Hisar police spokesperson Vikas Kumar said. Child sexual abuse is punishable in India under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), while the Information Technology Act provides for punishment for publishing, browsing, or transmitting child pornography. In 2018, the Supreme Court asked the government to frame guidelines to eliminate child pornography, rape and gang-rape imageries, videos and sites from content hosting platforms and applications. An ad-hoc Rajya Sabha committee in February 2020 recommended the identification of the originators of such content. The panel studied the issue of pornography on social media and its effect on children and society. As part of the Centre's steps, the internet service providers are mandated to protect children from sexual abuse. The government blocks the websites containing child sexual abuse material based on Interpol's 'worst-of-list' which CBI periodically shares. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules mandate intermediaries to remove or disable access within 24 hours of receipt of complaints of contents that exposes the private areas of individuals, show them in full or partial nudity or in sexual act or is in the nature of impersonation, including morphed imagery. The complaints about cybercrimes against women and children can be filed on the national cyber portal (
Time of India
09-05-2025
- Time of India
Ghaziabad man sentenced to 3 years jail for harassing minor
Ghaziabad: A man was sentenced to three years in jail for stalking and harassing a minor in 2019, along with a fine of Rs 5,000. Special judge (Pocso) Lal Babu Yadav, however, granted the accused bail on a surety of two bonds of Rs 40,000 to allow him to appeal in a higher court. Kartik alias Neeraj, a resident of Sahibabad, was found guilty under section 354A of the Indian Penal Code for making undue sexual advances towards a girl and sections 7/8 of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act 2012 for attempting to sexually molest the 17-year-old. A case was registered on April 8,2019 following a complaint by the girl's father. He accused the man of following his daughter for over a month and making advances on the evening of April 7, 2019. "He also hurled abuses at my wife when she tried to intervene," the complainant arrested the accused and submitted the charge sheet to the special Pocso court on July 23, 2019. Their investigation confirmed that the victim was repeatedly harassed by the accused. On the day of the incident, he tried to stop the girl, and when her mother intervened, he threatened both of court found that the prosecution failed to establish the charges of threats issued by the accused, but could clearly prove that the accused attempted to molest the minor. Hence, the charges of Section 504 (intentional insult) and Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC were dropped, and he was punished under Section 354A of the IPC and Section 7/8 of the Pocso the accused was on bail, the court ordered him to surrender immediately, but later granted him bail to appeal in a higher court.
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Business Standard
08-05-2025
- Business Standard
Pocso Act now misused for exploitation, says Allahabad High Court
The Allahabad High Court has observed that the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which was enacted to protect children under the age of 18 years from sexual exploitation, has now become a tool for their exploitation. While hearing a bail application, Justice Krishan Pahal stressed that the Act was never meant to criminalise consensual romantic relationships between adolescents and said the fact of a consensual relationship borne out of love should be considered while granting bail. The court said it would amount to the perversity of justice if the statement of the victim was ignored and the accused was left to suffer in jail. The court made these observations while granting bail under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and POCSO Act to an 18-year-old boy who was booked for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl. The applicant Raj Sonkar was arrested in March this year. His counsel contended before the court that it was a case of consensual relationship and that there was no medical corroboration of the incident. It was also submitted that there was no criminal antecedent of the applicant and if he was released on bail, he would not misuse the liberty of bail. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the evidence on record, taking into consideration the inordinate delay of 15 days in the institution of FIR and there being no medical corroboration of the incident, the court in its order dated April 29 granted him bail without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case.
Hindustan Times
08-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
POCSO Act never meant to criminalise consensual relationships: Allahabad HC
The Allahabad high court observed that the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which was enacted to protect minors from sexual exploitation, has now become a tool for their exploitation. Stressing that the Act was never meant to criminalise consensual romantic relationships between adolescents, the bench of Justice Krishan Pahal said that the fact of a consensual relationship borne out of love should be considered while granting bail. Justice Pahal added that it would amount to perversity of justice if the statement of the victim was ignored and the accused was left to suffer in jail. The bench made these observations while granting bail to an 18-year-old boy, who was booked under sections 137(2), 87, 65(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and 3/4(2) of POCSO Act by the Chakiya police in Chandauli district for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl. The lawyer of accused Raj Sonkar, who was arrested in March this year, had submitted before the court that it was a case of consensual relationship and that there was no medical corroboration of the incident. The lawyer also contended that there was no criminal antecedent of the applicant and if he was released on bail, he would not misuse the liberty. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the evidence on record, and taking into consideration the inordinate delay of 15 days in registering the FIR and the absence of no medical corroboration of the incident, the court, in its order dated April 29, granted him bail without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case.
