By Our Legal Correspondent
New Delhi Aug 21(IVC) The Supreme Court here on Aug 20 dismissed “unwarranted “ suggestions made by a Calcutta High Court Bench in a judgment last year, including the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 must be amended to decriminalize consensual sexual acts involving adolescents above 16 years of age.
A Bench headed by Justices A S Oka also slammed the High Court Bench for “surprisingly carving out a non-existing category of romantic cases in rape cases”. The case in question concerned the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl by a 25-year-old man in 2018. She was compelled to marry him and have a child.
The POCSO court had sentenced the man to 20 years’ imprisonment for aggravated sexual assault under the POCSO Act and for rape. In appeal , the Calcutta High Court set aside the conviction of the man under POCSO Act while making a reference to the fact that the girl had continued to stay with him after her mother had “disowned” her. The High Court had urged adolescents, especially girls, to “control their sexual urges”.
The Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognizance of the High Court judgment of October 2023 and appointed senior advocates Madaavi Divan an Liz Mathew as amici curiae.
In his 50-page judgment, Justice Oka slammed the remarks made in the High Court judgment as “unwarranted”. Judges , the top court said, should avoid expressing their personal views in judgments.
“The High Court was not dealing with the sexual acts involving adolescents above 16 years as the age of the victim was 14 years and the accused was 25 years at the relevant time. Perversity is writ large on the face of the judgment,” Justice Oka wrote.
The Supreme Court revived the conviction of the man for aggravated sexual assault under POCSO Act and rape.
The Supreme Court directed the West Bengal Government to constitute a committee of three experts, including a clinical psychologist and a social scientist, to meet with the woman and help her make an informed choice on whether she would want to continue with the man or come out and avail State benefits promised for her welfare.
