Delhi HC says POCSO act applies to every genders in sexual assault circumstances; females will also be charged too

Narrative highlights

A female can additionally face criminal complaints below POCSO for committing the offence of “penetrative sexual assault” on a child, and the offence is now not restricted to merely male offenders the Delhi High Court has held.

Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani said the Protection of Childhood from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act modified into enacted to guard children from sexual offences, “no subject whether or now not an offence is committed upon a child by a man or a girl”. There modified into no reason the word “person” showing in piece 3 (penetrative sexual assault) might per chance comprise to be read as referring only to a “male”, he added.

The courtroom’s determination modified into delivered closing week on a plea by an accused in a POCSO case, who argued that since she modified into a girl, the offences of “penetrative sexual assault” and “aggravated penetrative sexual assault” can merely now not be made out against her.

The accused, while assailing the framing of payments against her, contended that a shocking discovering out of the provision confirmed that it only, and time and again, conventional the pronoun “he”, that design that the intent of the legislature modified into only to bear a man accountable for the offence.

Nonetheless, the courtroom said there might per chance be now not any such thing as a reason the word “person” showing in piece 3 of the POCSO Act might per chance comprise to be read as referring only to a “male”.

“It’s accordingly held that the acts talked about in sections 3 and 5 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act are an offence no subject the gender of the perpetrator, supplied the acts are committed upon a child,” the courtroom said in the judgment.

“Giving due regard to the indisputable truth that the Legislature enacted the POCSO Act in expose to offer protection to children from sexual offences – no subject whether or now not an offence is committed upon a child by a man or a girl – the courtroom must now not define any provision of the statute that derogates from the legislative intent and motive,” it said.

The courtroom well-known that below the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the pronoun “he” and its derivatives are conventional for someone, whether or now not male or female, and the POCSO provision must now not be interpreted in a device that restricts the offence only to a man.

“When considered from this lens, the one real rational inference is that the pronoun ‘he’ showing in piece 3(a), 3(b), 3(c) and 3(d) must now not be so interpreted as to restrict the offence engrafted in these sections only to a ‘man’.

“It’s extremely crucial to existing that the said provisions encompass inner the ambit of penetrative sexual assault, the insertion of any object or physique-piece; or the manipulation of any physique piece of a child to attach off penetration; or the software of the mouth. It might per chance per chance therefore be fully illogical to tell that the offence contemplated in these provisions refers only to penetration by a penis,” the courtroom observed.

The courtroom, on a prima-facie consideration of the material, therefore, ruled that the offence of “aggravated penetrative sexual assault” modified into made out against the petitioner, even supposing she modified into a girl.

“The petitioner is therefore required to be attach apart to trial for the offences as charged. The petition is accordingly brushed aside,” held the courtroom.

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