Calcutta High Court refuses to quash case under POCSO Act against ‘priest’ grand-uncle

The Calcutta High Court refused to quash a case registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for the delay in filing the First Information Report (FIR), saying that FIR in heinous crime like sexual harassment of a girl child cannot be quashed on technical grounds and there are a plethora of reasons why victims of sexual assault do not come forward with allegations.

Justice Bibek Chaudhuri said that delay in filing FIR in cases of sexual assault should not be equated with other cases to quash proceedings or hold an accused not guilty.

It has been alleged in the case that grand-uncle, who is a priest by profession, sexually assaulted the victim on two occasions when she was 15-16 years old. The FIR in the case was registered by the mother of the victim after two years and by that time, the girl attained majority. The victim said that when she told about this to her father, who is also a priest and co-accused in the case, after the sexual assault by her priest grand-uncle, he scolded her and later when her brother asked from his father, he slapped him.

As per the allegations, the grand-uncle sexually assaulted her on two occasions – once in August 2018, during Rakshabandhan, and the other time after Diwali in 2019, on the pretext of performing puja. It has been alleged that on the first occasion, the grand-uncle touched the breasts and private parts of the victim without consent and on the second occasion, the victim was forced by her grand-uncle to touch his private parts. The parents of the victim are having disputes and have filed various cases against each

The High Court said that in the present case, there seems a cogent reason for delay in FIR and the delay in FIR cannot be a reason for acquitting an accused person and technical grounds cannot be cited as a reason for quashing of the investigation at this stage in a heinous crime like sexual harassment of a girl child.

“There are a plethora of reasons why victims of sexual assault do not come forward with allegations. Firstly, they are discouraged from filing FIR and are not believed by the authorities. This is coupled with the social stigma that a woman and her family face from society when such an act is committed against her. More importantly, sexual harassment and rapes are crimes which can cause lifelong trauma to the victims and it is impossible to mathematically calculate or prescribe a time limit as to when a person would recover and would be comfortable with filing a complaint,” the High Court said, adding that it is not inclined to believe the contentions of the accused persons and that there sufficient reasons for delay in filing FIR.

The accused argued before the High Court that he is a victim in this case caught in the crossfire of matrimonial dispute between the parents of the victim and he has been unnecessarily dragged in this case and has nothing to do with either the family or personal dispute of the estranged couple. He further said that he is a senior citizen who lives in a separate residence with his family since 1994 much prior to the marriage of the estranged couple in May 2001. The accused further argued that the victim refused to undergo medical examination and there are no medical evidence available to believe the version of the victim.

The High Court, however, rejected the arguments of the accused and said that there has been no penetrative sex by the accused on both the occasions and medical examination by the doctor cannot prove whether these acts had been committed by the accused and this reason cannot be cited for quashing of FIR.