- Case- State of Maharashtra vs Dr. Maroti s/o Kashinath Pimpalkar [2022 LiveLaw (SC) 898]
- Bench- Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice C.T. Ravikumar
- On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, failing to disclose a minor's sexual assault to the police constitutes a serious crime.
- They were also of the view that it is typically an effort to protect those who have committed the crime of sexual assault.
- The Bombay High Court Order which quashed criminal proceedings against a doctor who didn’t report sexual assault against minor girls was hence set aside.
- The doctor was informed by the minor tribal students—some of whom were in classes three and five—that the superintendent of the hostels at Infant Jesus English Public High School in Chandrapur district, along with four other people, had sexually exploited them. But the doctor allegedly said nothing in order to defend the accused.
- The five defendants and the doctor were charged by the police in June 2019 in accordance with the POCSO Act. The chargesheet against the doctor was dismissed earlier this year by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court following a careful and elaborate review of the survivors' testimonies.
- The High Court's ruling had been appealed by the state government to the SC and was allowed by the SC.
- The bench while reversing the Bombay High Court Judgement was of the opinion that the POCSO Act places a premium on prompt and proper reporting of offences committed under its provisions, and that failure to do so, even after learning of an offence, would undermine the Act's basic goals.
- The Justices remarked “We may say, we are not peeved, but certainly pained, as a legitimate prosecution under the Pocso Act has been throttled at the threshold by the exercise of power under Section 482 of the CrPC without permitting the materials in support to it to see the light of the day in respect of misprision of sexual assault against minor tribal girls in a girls' hostel.”
- They also felt that the high court should have allowed the prosecution to present evidence and have it examined during the trial rather than starting a comprehensive investigation on its own.
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