Latest news with #ProtectionofChildrenfromSexualOffencesAct
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Pocso accused booked for producing fake birth certificate in court
Surat: Police booked a 20-year-old man at Umra police station on Thursday for allegedly submitting a fake birth certificate in court. The accused tried to prove he was a minor and have his case heard in a juvenile court. Police had booked Sagar Bind, who is from Arjunpur village in the Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh, and his associate Mithilesh Saroj, also from UP, under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Bind is currently lodged in Lajpore Central Jail. Bind was arrested six months ago after an FIR was filed for the rape of a 14-year-old girl at Sachin GIDC. He had allegedly taken the girl to Bihar. After his arrest, police carried out a bone ossification test on him, as he did not have a birth certificate. The test found his age to be between 20 and 22 years. Then court sent him to judicial custody and the case was sent to the court of the special judge for the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Later, the accused's lawyer produced a birth certificate from District Hospital, Mirzapur, for Bind, which showed his birth date as January 1, 2009, and asked that the case be transferred to a juvenile court. The court instructed police to verify Bind's age. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với mức chênh lệch giá thấp nhất IC Markets Đăng ký Undo A police team went to Mirzapur for verification. At the hospital, police were told the certificate was fake. Hospital officials confirmed that the serial number was wrong, and no such certificate was issued on that date. Hospital authorities said that original certificates have a scanner code through which one can access the details online. No details were shown when the fake certificate was scanned. Police later submitted the details to the court. Based on these findings, an FIR was lodged by inspector B B Parmar. The investigation revealed that the other accused, Saroj, had helped Bind obtain the fake birth certificate.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Time of India
You became a beast, not entitled to bail: SC to doc who molested daughter
Representative image New Delhi: Supreme Court Thursday refused to entertain a doctor's plea seeking suspension of the sentence of life imprisonment awarded to him after being convicted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso) for raping his seven-year-old daughter. A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma said he was not entitled to bail, considering the kind of things he did to his daughter. The convict's lawyer contended that he was framed because of differences with his wife, and that she tutored the child to testify against him. His wife is also a doctor but despite that the medical examination of his daughter was delayed by three months and no injury marks were found on her body, the advocate said. The bench, however, said there was no reason to disbelieve the child's statement and she also withstood the cross-examination. "The man became a beast. Please don't force us to say anything more... She testified against her father. Why should we disbelieve her," it asked. Pressing for relief, the convict said it would take years for Allahabad HC to decide his appeal and he would have to languish in jail during the pendency of the case. He said 12 lakh cases were pending in HC, and appeals filed in 1981 were being heard now. But SC refused his plea and granted him permission to file a fresh bail petition after some time. "This is the most liberal bench and if we are not granting bail it means there is something. We cannot help it," Justice Sharma said. The man was convicted by a Varanasi court and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The Hindu
3 days ago
- The Hindu
How has SC deviated from the POCSO Act in a recent judgment?
The story so far: On May 23, the Supreme Court (SC) declined to impose a sentence on a man convicted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act), noting that the victim did not view the incident as a crime and had suffered more from the legal fallout. Why was POCSO enacted? Enacted in December 2012, the POCSO Act criminalises both penetrative and non-penetrative sexual assault, sexual harassment, and child pornography. A gender-neutral law, POCSO deems all minors under 18 incapable of 'consent', and mandates child-friendly procedures like special courts, in-camera trials, and video-recorded testimonies. With strict penalties, a presumption of guilt on the accused, and time-bound trials, the Act aims to fill critical legislative voids and deliver swift, victim-centric justice. What is the case? The case involved a 13-year-old girl from rural West Bengal, reported missing by her mother in May 2018, who was later found to have married a 25-year-old man (accused). Despite her mother's rescue efforts, she stayed with him and later gave birth to a daughter. Based on an FIR by her mother, a special judge in September 2022 convicted the accused under POCSO and IPC Sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage etc), 376 (2)(n) (repeated rape on same woman) and 376 (3) (rape on woman under 16 years), sentencing him to 20 years imprisonment. However, the Calcutta HC overturned the conviction by invoking its inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, despite POCSO's non-recognition of 'consensual relationships' with minors. It further recommended legislative amendments to exclude such relationships from POCSO's ambit. The judgment veered into a discourse on 'adolescent sexuality', attributing it to climate change, food habits, early puberty, and a 'taboo-free atmosphere' influenced by social media and pornography. This unscientific reasoning overlooked social factors and reinforced outdated gender norms. What did the SC state? On August 20, 2024, the top court in a suo motu proceeding set aside the HC's ruling, reaffirming that POCSO does not recognise 'consensual sex' with minors and its objective must not be diluted. Stressing that judgments must remain concise and law-focused, it criticised the HC for straying from 'legal reasoning' into personal opinions and social commentary. However, sentencing was deferred pending a report from a three-member expert panel tasked with meeting the victim and submitting findings. The expert committee found that the victim, now living in poverty and a temporary shelter, remains committed to the accused and faces significant hardship in tackling the police, society and legal system to secure his release. It flagged the inadequate implementation of the POCSO Act as a 'collective failure' and recommended keeping the family unit intact for the child's welfare, alongside providing financial, legal, and educational support. 'The society judged her, the legal system failed her, and her own family abandoned her', the SC observed, citing the report. Exercising Article 142 (extraordinary jurisdiction), it withheld sentencing and directed the West Bengal government to ensure her welfare and rehabilitation. What next? The unusual deviation from the child protection law in this case must not set a precedent, as the judgment emphasises. Any such exception risks weakening the core intent of the POCSO Act to protect minors from sexual exploitation. Opening the door to exceptions could lead to widespread misuse, with perpetrators hiding behind the guise of 'family protection' to exploit vulnerable girls. India urgently needs comprehensive sex education and a stigma-free curriculum. Kartikey Singh is a lawyer based in Delhi.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
Two held for abducting, sexually assaulting minor girls
Thiruvananthapuram: Nemom police recorded the arrest of two men on Wednesday for abducting and sexually assaulting two minor girls aged 16 and 15. Police identified the arrested men as Aneesh, 21, and Deepu, 27, of Neyyattinkara. Police arrested them from near their houses on Tuesday night and the girls were rescued. The men were planning to take the girls to Tamil Nadu, police said. According to police, the girls got acquainted with the men through social media. As per their direction, the girls reached Neyyattinkara on Monday. In the meantime, the parents of the girls registered a missing case at Nemom police station. Since the girls did not carry their mobile phones with them, the probe team found it a bit difficult to trace them. During the search conducted at their houses, the police found a mobile number written in the notebook of one of the girls. It was also found that one of the girls contacted the number several times. Soon, the accused's location was traced using the mobile number, and they were taken into custody from Neyyattinkara. The accused were remanded after being produced before a court on charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The girls were sent with their parents after a medical examination and counselling was also provided.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Time of India
Neighbour rapes 6-year-old girl in Ichhapore
Surat: A six-year-old girl was raped in the Ichhapore police station jurisdiction here on Monday. The accused, a neighbour, allegedly abducted the girl from her house, tied her hands and stuffed a cloth in her mouth before raping her. According to investigators, the victim lives with her parents and two siblings in a colony at Bhatlai village. On Monday morning, her father went to his workplace while her mother went to a house where she does domestic work. The accused is a resident of the same colony. At about 1pm, he found the victim alone at home. He took the victim to his house, tied her hands, gagged her and raped her. After the crime, he threatened the victim with a knife and struck her with a metal rod, causing an injury near her eye. He then left her near her house and fled. When her mother arrived, the victim told her what had happened. When the victim's father came home, they went to the police station and filed a complaint against the accused, who is absconding. Ichhapore police have booked the accused under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 137 (2), 87, 64 (2)(i), 65 (2), 74, 76, 351 (2), 115 (2) and Sections 3 (b), 4, 5 (M), 6, 8, 9 (M), 10, 11 (1), 12 and 18 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
