AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court called “prima facie strange and also shameful” invocation of charges under Posco Act in a case of sexual offence against a minor eight years after FIR was lodged and trial was nearing completion.
This case is from Mehsana town, north Gujarat, where a 15-year-old lodged a complaint against four people for outraging her modesty in Jan 2016.The accused were charged under IPC provisions, but the fact that the survivor was a minor was overlooked.
The investigating agency filed a chargesheet under IPC and trial commenced before a judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) in Mehsana. The victim testified in 2018, explicitly stating that she was 15 years old at the time of the alleged offence. It was only in 2024, when all the evidence had been documented and final arguments were imminent, that the public prosecutor brought to the court’s notice that Pocso sections 11 and 12 should have been invoked and the case should be transferred to a special sessions court. Subsequently, Pocso charges were applied and the case was transferred to a special sessions court.
The fresh development resulted in the issuance of a warrant against the accused, who approached the HC through advocate Keval Maharaja for quashing of the FIR and the case as well as against the invocation of Pocso charges.
Justice Sandeep Bhatt sought clarification from the prosecutors, investigators and the court regarding such an oversight.
After their responses to the court’s queries, the judge stated that “no action had been taken by the learned assistant public prosecutor nor had cognisance of such fact been taken by the learned presiding officer conducting the trial. Even the defence has failed to point out the relevant aspects before the concerned court.” The high court criticised the investigating agency for its “casual approach” and for conducting the investigation in a “mechanical manner”.
The HC declined to quash the case but permitted the accused to pursue their issue before a Pocso court.
